Sepp Blatter to appeal six-year football ban

The former Fifa president will take his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport after having his initial eight-year ban reduced to six years by Fifa's appeal committee.

Former Fifa president Sepp Blatter will appeal his six-year ban from football-related activities at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).

Blatter, along with ex-Uefa president Michel Platini, was handed an eight-year suspension by Fifa's ethics committee in December for a "disloyal" payment made to the Frenchman.

Their bans were reduced to six years by Fifa's appeal committee in February, with the panel stating that Blatter and Platini's services to football should be taken into account.

Platini has already launched his own appeal to Cas but despite the "optimism" of his lawyers the Frenchman says he has "rarely seen someone win against Fifa or Uefa through Cas".

Blatter, too, has now decided to seek "the annulment of the decision taken by the Fifa Appeal Committee in which he was suspended from all football-related activities at national and international level for six years".

A Cas statement continues: "First, the parties will exchange written submissions and a panel of three arbitrators will be constituted. The Panel will then issue directions with respect to the holding of a hearing.

"Following the hearing, the Panel will deliberate and at a later date, it will issue a decision in the form of an Arbitral Award."