Football governing body FIFA on Monday banned its own president Sepp Blatter as well as Michel Platini, the head of the European football administration, for eight years after they were found guilty in an ethics investigation. The BBC reported that the bans will come into force immediately for Blatter, who has been FIFA president since 1998, and Platini, who many expected to be the football governing body's next president.

Blatter and Platini were found guilty of breaching FIFA's ethics code, based on a $2 million payment made to the latter by FIFA in 2011. A panel found that neither Blatter nor Platini could demonstrate a legal basis for this payment. Both men claimed the money had been payment for work Platini did between 1998 and 2002, based on a "verbal agreement." The panel, however, was not convinced by these arguments and charged them with conflict of interest, false accounting and non cooperation.

In a press conference later in the day, Platini said he would appeal the decision handed out to him calling the investigation a "pure masquerade." He had earlier boycotted the investigation, while Blatter likened it to the Inquisition.