Patrick B. Kraemer, Keystone via AP)
ZURICH — Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini were each banned for eight years by the FIFA ethics committee on Monday in a stunning removal of world soccer's most powerful leaders.
FIFA President Blatter and his one-time protege Platini were kicked out of the sport for conflict of interest and disloyalty to FIFA in a $2 million payment deal that is also the subject of a criminal investigation in Switzerland.
Both men were defiant in response to the verdict, with each saying they will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and insisting they had done nothing wrong.