Ethics Committee submits reports on Blatter, Platini

Sepp Blatter's lawyers have said the outgoing the Federation Internationale de Football Association president is disappointed after his appeal against a provisional ban was rejected and insisted there was no evidence of an improper conduct over a £1.3million payment to Michel Platini.

FIFA's ethics committee has said it hopes to complete the investigation and reach a full decision - which could involve a much longer ban - by early January.

No written agreement exists, however, and Platini's job ended in 2002 when he joined FIFA's ethics committee.

Platini's suspension has meant that he has so far not been able to register as a candidate for the February presidential election.

It is also being investigated by Swiss legal authorities as a "disloyal payment", and the fact they did not report the outstanding debt to Fifa's financial department in the intervening years could be a case of false accounting.

Final reports have been submitted by the investigatory chamber of the Ethics Committee, requesting sanctions for the suspended Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini.

Blatter and Platini have strongly denied any wrongdoing.

He faces a ban of at least several years if the Federation Internationale de Football Association ethics court finds him guilty of conflicts of interest and breaching the terms of his suspension.

Its report will now be passed to the committee's adjudicatory chamber, which will decide whether investigations should be pursued and on any potential sanctions.

"Michel Platini's appeal to the CAS has been lodged", the former Juventus star's lawyers confirmed on Friday and said he expected a CAS decision by the end of November.

Blatter has said he wants to leave the Federation Internationale de Football Association with a dignified exit after 40 years by hosting the election congress in Zurich.

The ethics committee said its chief investigator Cornel Borbely was not involved in its investigation of Blatter as both men are Swiss.

Both the United States and Switzerland are doing continuous criminal inquiries into corruption allegations within the soccer world.