Putin says suspended Federation Internationale de Football Association president Blatter deserves Nobel Peace Prize

Blatter is under criminal investigation in Switzerland over a two million Swiss francs ($2 million/1.8 million euros) payment made to Platini in 2011 for work carried out about a decade earlier.

Sepp Blatter, along with FIFA Vice President Michel Platini, arrived in Zurich in a black Mercedes Thursday morning but made no comment as he entered a hearing at the soccer body’s ethics commission.

The pair both face bans of six years or more if the judges find them guilty of code of ethics violations.

In a statement to L’Equipe, Platini’s lawyers said: “With this decision (to boycott his hearing), Michel Platini intends to express his profound outrage at a procedure which he considers to have been created to prevent him from running for president of Federation Internationale de Football Association”.

The news came a day after officials said German prosecutors had asked Switzerland to help look into a suspicious payment linked to their country’s hosting of the 2006 World Cup, including by sifting through bank data.

On Thursday, Blatter also faces questions about false accounting because FIFA’s debt to Platini was not booked in financial reports from 2002-2011.

As Blatter exited FIFA’s headquarters on Thursday, possibly for the last time, his temporary replacement warned that the unprecedented storm surrounding the organisation may not be over. “As for Joseph Blatter, he is a very respected person, he has done a lot for the development of world football”, Putin said.

Platini has said he took less because of FIFA’s financial situation, and Blatter has said FIFA’s wage structure meant his adviser could not be paid more than the secretary general.

Despite the multitude of controversies surrounding the 79-year-old-ESPN FC have compiled an extensive list of the scandals that have so far been revealed-there’s no denying world football has undergone an incredible transformation under Blatter’s watch.

“Sepp Blatter has deserved the title of “Swiss of the Year” for years”, the publication announced.

Dozens of people are facing charges in USA courts, but Blatter and Platini are not among that group.

There’s a Nobel Peace Prize for Awarding the World Cup to Russian Federation now?

Millions of Swiss francs related to world football’s governing body FIFA have been frozen by the Swiss Justice Ministry, a spokesman has confirmed.