Suspended UEFA President Michel Platini walked into FIFA headquarters on Monday to appeal his eight-year ban over a $2 million payment approved by Sepp Blatter.
Platini declined to be driven past waiting media and strolled from his nearby hotel into the main entrance at FIFA Strasse on a hill overlooking Zurich.
The former FIFA presidential hopeful denies wrongdoing and is challenging the sanctions imposed after an ethics committee hearing he refused to attend. “They were already saying everything in newspapers so it was not worth going to hear what was already in the papers,” Platini said of his previous strategy. “Now it’s the appeals commission, so we’ll see what happens, but maybe it’s not over.”
FIFA’s ethics committee found Platini guilty of accepting gifts, conflicts of interest and breaching loyalty and general conduct rules. He was fined 80,000 Swiss francs ($81,000).
The FIFA appeals committee, which rarely overturns rulings, could give its verdict this week.