Fifa suspends Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini

Fifa presidential candidate Chung Mong-joon has also been banned for six years and fined 100,000 Swiss francs (£67,000), FIFA’s ethic committee announced.

Blatter and Platini – who had been favourite to replace 79-year-old Blatter as president of world football’s governing body – will not be involved in the game on a national or international level for three months while investigations continue.

The 90-day ban, which comes into force immediately, can be extended by another 45 days.

The pair can appeal against the suspension to FIFA’s appeals committee within two days of being notified of the decision but they will remain suspended at least until the appeal is held.

The grounds for these decisions are the investigations that are being carried out by the investigatory chamber of the ethics committee. Fifa statement

The ethics committee said in a statement: “The grounds for these decisions are the investigations that are being carried out by the investigatory chamber of the ethics committee. The chairman of the chamber is Dr Cornel Borbely.

“The investigation into Joseph S Blatter is being carried out by Robert Torres, the investigation into Michel Platini by Vanessa Allard.”

It went on: “The proceedings against the South Korean football official Chung Mong-joon were opened in January 2015 based on findings in the report on the investigation into the bidding process for the 2018/2022 Fifa World Cups.

“He has been found guilty of infringing article 13 (general rules of conduct), article 16 (confidentiality), article 18 (duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting), article 41 (obligation of the parties to collaborate) and article 42 (general obligation to collaborate) of the Fifa code of ethics.

“The ethics committee is unable to comment on the details of the decisions until they become final, due to the provisions of article 36 (confidentiality) of the Fifa code of ethics.”

Last month the Swiss authorities opened a criminal investigation into Blatter over a deal he signed the TV rights to the Caribbean World Cup, and a 2011 payment of 2 million francs to Platini.