Disgraced world soccer president Sepp Blatter and the sport's European head, Michel Platini, will be invited to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko said on Monday. Blatter and Platini, the two men at the top of the world's most popular sport, were banned by soccer governing body FIFA for eight years in December over a spate of corruption scandals on their watch that, among other things, raised questions about Russia's right to host the tournament. Mutko told Russia's R-Sport news agency on Sunday that Blatter and Platini were appealing against their bans and still permitted to attend soccer events. "Formally, the suspension prohibits them from any position in football. But on the other hand, how is that an outstanding player like Michel Platini can't go to the football?" Mutko was quoted as saying. "We will invite them, I see no problems with the events we are hosting."
Several members of FIFA's executive committee have already been questioned by the Swiss justice, and president Sepp Blatter could also be quizzed "in the future if needed", a spokesman for the Swiss public prosecutor said.
Switzerland's highest court rejected former European soccer boss Michel Platini's bid to overturn his four-year ban from the sport over ethics violations, the court said on Thursday.
'The stigma that FIFA is a corrupt body has to be erased once and for all. One fears that will not happen until Sepp Blatter goes'
Sepp Blatter's shock resignation as FIFA president should allow people to now focus on events on the pitch .
Gianni Infatino, who stood unopposed, was re-elected as FIFA President during the 73rd Congress in Kigali.
Outgoing FIFA President Sepp Blatter said a Swiss criminal investigation against him was 'not correct' and defended his decision not to step down sooner as head of the world soccer body, according to a German magazine.
Disgraced former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has pledged to accept the verdict as he made his final appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against his six-year ban from all football-related activities.
In a recent development to the already troubled Qatar World Cup 2022, a German magazine has claimed that FIFA president Sepp Blatter has confirmed Qatar would be stripped of its hosting rights chiefly due to Qatari Sheikh's support to terror group IS.
Suspended FIFA President Sepp Blatter and European soccer boss Michel Platini were both banned for eight years on Monday by FIFA's Ethics Committee.
Prince Ali is standing against Sepp Baltter in Friday's election and although Blatter is strongly favoured to win.
Qatar will be the first team since Italy in the second World Cup in 1934 to participate in the finals for the first time as a host without having previously qualified for the tournament.
FIFA's ethics panel said on Saturday it has formally given outgoing president Sepp Blatter and European soccer head Michel Platini the reasons for their eight-year bans from the game.
Sepp Blatter resigned as FIFA president on Tuesday, four days after being re-elected to a fifth term.
Following is a list of high-ranking officials to have been implicated or punished in the bribery and corruption crisis that has engulfed FIFA.
Canada, which is hosting the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, will not support incumbent Sepp Blatter in Friday's presidential vote at the FIFA Congress, the head of the Canadian Soccer Association said on Thursday on his official Twitter account.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter began his fifth term at the helm of football's governing body on Saturday facing the daunting task of restoring public faith in an organisation tainted by allegations of corruption and deeply divided over his re-election.
Sepp Blatter, Luis Figo, Michael van Praag and Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein have bid to stand for FIFA president.
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter will discover on Monday whether he has won his appeal against a six-year ban from football imposed for ethics violations amid the biggest corruption scandal ever to shake the world soccer body.
FIFA's independent ethics committee has cleared the organisation's president Gianni Infantino of any alleged breach of its code, world soccer's governing body said on Wednesday.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter visited Qatar's emir on Sunday and said that while progress has been made in improving workers' rights in the 2022 World Cup host nation, more still needed to be done.
FIFA President Sepp Blatter was relieved of his International Olympic Committee ex officio membership on Monday.
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.
Bookmakers lengthened the odds that European soccer boss Michel Platini will succeed Sepp Blatter as head of global soccer body FIFA, after Swiss prosecutors said they were investigating Blatter over a payment to Platini.
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 will hold an extraordinary executive committee meeting in July to discuss dates for the presidential election which will choose a replacement for Sepp Blatter, soccer's governing body said on Wednesday.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter on Wednesday all but confirmed he would run for re-election despite criticism the game and organisation have been tarnished by accusations of corruption during his long reign.
Teams involved in racial incidents should suffer more severe punishment like the docking of league points, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Wednesday.
Blatter may want business as usual, others say 'go now.'
Gianni Infantino opened FIFA's new museum in his first official act as president of football's governing body on Sunday.
FIFA's appeal committee has upheld bans on longtime President Sepp Blatter and European football head Michel Platini for ethics violations but reduced them to six years from eight, it said on Wednesday.
Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) and Real Madrid have responded angrily to comments from FIFA president Sepp Blatter that appeared to make fun of the Real and Portugal forward.
Diego Maradona is delighted by plans to expand the World Cup to 48 teams and Argentina's former captain said on Monday that it would rekindle interest in the tournament.
Joao Havelange has quit as FIFA's honorary president while Sepp Blatter has been cleared of misconduct in the ISL bribery case, a report by FIFA's ethics committee said on Tuesday. The report described the behaviour of Havelange as 'morally and ethically reproachable' in his dealings with ISL, FIFA's former marketing partner which went bankrupt in 2001.
FIFA chief Sepp Blatter often talks about being the head of the "football family" but if the boos that greeted his appearance at the Asian Cup final on Saturday are anything to go by, he is not too popular with his Australian cousins.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter caught world soccer's ruling body by surprise on Wednesday when he proposed a new television review system that would go well beyond the goal-line technology already being used in some countries.
World soccer's governing body FIFA on Tuesday lodged a criminal complaint over the "possible misconduct of individual persons" in connection with the awarding of hosting rights for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.
Awarding the 2022 soccer World Cup to Qatar was a 'mistake' and the tournament will probably have to be held in the winter because of the heat, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has said.
Awarding the 2022 soccer World Cup to Qatar was a 'mistake' and the tournament will probably have to be held in the winter because of the heat, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has said.
Three stadiums and several airports are not ready, and other promised infrastructure has been shelved, but the 2014 World Cup will "be the most successful of all time", the head of FIFA told Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff on Thursday.
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