President Putin says Sepp Blatter deserves a Nobel — Surprise

Mr Blatter was deluged by fake dollar bills by a comedian at a news conference before his suspension earlier this year.

Blatter, featured on the cover, told the magazine: “I’m a grounded person”.

The Swiss denied any wrongdoing ahead of a hearing headed by ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert getting underway in Zurich on Thursday. While FIFA President Sepp Blatt…

Platini is protesting the hearing because he believes his case has been pre-judged, his lawyers said yesterday in a statement. They are expected to make a ruling early next week. “If the investigators do not have any concrete proof to show that the Russian bid campaign violated any rules, then there is no need to resort to politics”, Mutko had stated.

His lead lawyer at the hearing is Lorenz Erni.

Platini has claimed the verdict has been decided in advance and his lawyers say FIFA’s ethics committee has recommended a life ban for the French football legend.

Swiss authorities opened a criminal investigation into Blatter on September 25.

The governing body has been reeling for months as it faces allegations of corruption.

Blatter said in a letter on Tuesday that the ethics committee’s investigation was “tendentious and dangerous”, adding: “This trial reminds me of the Inquisition”. Not all were accepted, but the two-chamber ethics court was crucial. “He is the one who should get the Nobel Peace Prize”.

As reported by Politico’s Cynthia Kroet, magazine Die Weltwoche has already named Blatter as their “Swiss of the Year”.

He reiterated that the payment, made when he was running for re-election of Federation Internationale de Football Association, was legitimate and resulted from a verbal contract for work Platini had done for Federation Internationale de Football Association years before.

Platini asked for a salary of 1 million Swiss francs. Platini, a former global player for France, branded the investigation “a sham” after Bantel’s comments. Blatter won unopposed after Bin Hammam was implicated in bribing Caribbean voters.

Blatter was also due to be questioned about false accounting, as the payment was not included in financial reports from 2002 to 2011.

“And whether or not it was in the budget it was a debt that had to be paid”.

Blatter arrived at the hearing with a bandage on his face, his spokesman Thomas Renggli explaining that he had undergone a minor procedure to treat a skin problem on his cheek.