UEFA president Michel Platini is surrounded by press as he leaves the Court of Arbitration for Sport after an hearing for an appeal against a 90-day suspension in Lausanne on Tuesday. (AFP)

Agencies/London


Sport’s highest tribunal will announce its decision today whether or not to temporarily lift the 90-day suspension on Michel Platini, barring him from seeking the presidency of football’s scandal-plagued governing body FIFA. Platini, the European football boss who until recently was seen as the man to lead FIFA out of its worst ever graft crisis, was suspended by FIFA’s ethics committee on Oct. 8 pending a full investigation into his conduct.
Sepp Blatter, who has been FIFA president since 1998, was also suspended after being swept up by a crisis that has led to criminal investigations into the sport in both Switzerland and the United States.
The Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said in a statement yesterday its panel had heard the parties’ arguments, and would announce its decision on Platini at around 10.00am local time (0900 GMT) today.
Former France captain Platini, president of UEFA since 2002, has registered as a candidate for the Feb. 26 election to choose a successor to Blatter, but cannot run while banned. Even a temporary lifting of the provisional ban by CAS could allow Platini to run, although FIFA’s electoral commission said it would study the case depending on the timing.
Platini was provisionally suspended after becoming embroiled in the long-running saga of corruption in football’s world governing body. An investigation centres on a 2 million Swiss franc payment from FIFA to Platini in 2011 for work he completed between 1998 and 2002.
Both Blatter and Platini deny any wrongdoing. They appealed against their bans to FIFA but they were rejected in November.
FIFA’s ethics committee has said it expects to make a final decision in the case, which could involve a ban of several years for both men, by the end of December.
The FIFA corruption scandal broke in May with a police raid and arrests of football officials at a Zurich hotel just before a congress of the body.
Some 14 officials, including two former vice-presidents, have been indicted in the United States.
The allegations of corruption within FIFA prompted Blatter to say in June he would resign, days after being re-elected for a fifth term.

Bility goes to CAS in bid to stay in FIFA presidential race
Musa Bility could yet become an official candidate in next year’s FIFA presidential election despite failing an integrity check after taking his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The arbitration body said world football governing organization FIFA had agreed to an expedited procedure and a decision could be reached “before the end of 2015.”
The FIFA election panel said Bility, the president of the Liberian Football Federation, was ineligible to stand for election at its extraordinary congress on February 26, 2016, but did not give reasons. Bility has requested to be allowed to campaign before the CAS verdict is returned.