French financial authorities are considering investigating how Qatar was awarded the 2022 soccer World Cup, financial prosecutor Eliane Houlette said on Sunday.
Here is the full text of the statement issued by FIFA on Monday detailing the suspension of FIFA President Sepp Blatter and European soccer boss Michel Platini for eight years.
The English FA have thrown their weight behind Michel Platini's bid to succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFA president.
FIFA's ethics committee rejected criticism from UEFA president Michel Platini over the manner of his suspension, saying the argument that he was not allowed to defend himself is "not valid."
Suspended European football boss Michel Platini will resign as head of governing body UEFA after losing a top level appeal against a ban for ethics violations, but said he would continue his fight to clear his name.
European football's governing body UEFA called for a quick decision in the case of its suspended president Michel Platini on Thursday and said the FIFA presidential election, which he is contesting, should go ahead in February as planned.
Emotional Platini says Blatter must go for good of FIFA.
UEFA chief Michel Platini wants the World Cup finals expanded to 40 teams from 2018 to allow more African and Asian countries into the tournament without reducing the number of European nations represented.
Banned UEFA president Michel Platini said he hoped to clear his name in time for the 2016 European Championship soccer tournament in June after attending a hearing on Monday to appeal against his suspension.
Selected quotes from Swiss Gianni Infantino's first news conference after the former UEFA general secretary was elected president of scandal-hit world soccer's governing body FIFA on Friday:
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has called for his successor, Gianni Infantino, to be suspended by the global soccer body after criminal proceedings were opened against Infantino in Switzerland. Swiss authorities said on Thursday that proceedings had been launched against the current FIFA boss by a special prosecutor looking into meetings he had with Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber.
In a statement, Zurich-based FIFA said the candidates proposed are: Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, Musa Hassan Bility, Jerome Champagne, Gianni Infantino, Michel Platini, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa and Tokyo Sexwale.
German champions Bayern Munich are close to signing former World and European champion Xabi Alonso from Champions League winners Real Madrid.
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter lost his appeal against a six-year ban for ethics violations, imposed amid the biggest corruption scandal to shake the world soccer body, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said.
FIFA's Sepp Blatter may have been banned for eight years from the game but he is still receiving his president's salary from world soccer's governing body, a spokesman for FIFA's Audit and Compliance Committee told Reuters on Monday.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has dismissed as "imagination and lies" any suggestion that he lobbied in favour of Aleksander Ceferin who was elected head of European soccer's governing body UEFA this week.
His message contained some defiance: he vowed to fight the ban, insisted he had done no wrong and hit out at those who had questioned his integrity and honesty.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter, already facing a criminal investigation from Swiss prosecutors, may now come under scrutiny from his organisation's own ethics investigators if they find evidence of potential wrongdoing, according to FIFA's ethics procedure.
Sepp Blatter has not ruled out trying to stay on as FIFA's president beyond February's scheduled election, despite facing a criminal investigation and a possible internal ethics probe.
World soccer's governing body FIFA will proceed with an election to pick a new president on Friday to replace the disgraced Sepp Blatter and vote on a set of reforms aimed at restoring its credibility after the worst graft scandal in its history.
A source close to FIFA said that as Blatter has not been arrested, charged or indicted, it would probably be for him to decide whether he stays in his post until February, when he is due to step down.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter is a mere servant at the service of football, he said on Friday as he re-stated his intention to run for a fifth mandate in next May's election.
- 'No independent governance committee, investigator or arbitration panel can change the culture of an organization' - 'FIFA's ethics committee was created to increase the transparency of the organisation, that's what we wanted, but in the end it has just caused more confusion for FIFA'
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Running highlights from FIFA's congress. World soccer's governing body has voted on a series of reforms and will elect a new president later on Friday (all times GMT): 13.30 The voting process is proving a long, drawn out affair. After an hour's voting, we have crawled to L for Latvia with little to get excited about apart from the brief appearance of Davor Suker, Golden Boot winner as the top scorer at the 1998 World Cup, as he cast Croatia's vote. Time then for a reminder that for a candidate to be elected in the first round, he must obtain at least 138 votes, two-thirds of the 207 votes cast. If this does not happen, a second round is held. This time, a simple majority -- 104 votes, which represents more than 50 percent of the votes -- is sufficient for a candidate to be elected. If no candidate gets that majority, the one with fewest votes will be eliminated and a new round will be held. This continues until one candidate obtains a majority. 12.45. Having begun his speech by promising to "die with my boots on", Sexwale ends it by withdrawing from the race, "I have got a surprise for you. My campaign ends today and I suspend my participation. With only four people it is your problem now." Markus Kattner, FIFA general secretary then reminds delegates of the voting procedure, reminding them not to photograph their ballot papers.
Former FIFA official Jerome Champagne formally announced on Monday that he will stand against incumbent Sepp Blatter in next year's election for president of the world soccer body.
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