Sepp Blatter claims FIFA corruption charge dropped

Sepp Blatter has claimed that FIFA's ethics committee has dropped the charge of corruption against him.

The president of the world's football governing body has been under investigation over a £1.3m payment made to UEFA president Michel Platini in 2011, weeks before Blatter was re-elected for a fourth term.

The pair are expected to learn their fate on the matter later today, although the 79-year-old told Swiss newspaper Blick that the corruption element of the case had been abandoned.

Speaking about Friday's eight-hour hearing with judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, Blatter said: "The judge told me at the start 'the corruption charges have been withdrawn'."

Blatter and Platini still face four other charges - mismanagement, conflict of interest, false accounting and non-cooperation with the investigation - which, if proven, will result in lengthy bans on involvement in the sport.

An angry Platini refused to attend his FIFA hearing last week, accusing the organisation of already announcing the verdict in the media.

Written by
Neil Wilkes