Michel Platini lodges appeal to CAS against 90-day ban

UEFA president Michel Platini is turning to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in hopes of overturning his 90-day ban from all football activities.

After the FIFA Appeal Committee rejected the appeals lodged by disgraced FIFA president Sepp Blatter - also serving a 90-day ban - and Platini earlier this week, the CAS announced Friday that the latter has "filed an urgent appeal," aimed at reviving his faint hopes of running for the FIFA presidency. His legal team said, according to the Associated Press: "We are confident that CAS will issue a ruling very quickly given what is at stake."

FIFA's Ad-hoc Electoral Committee admitted and declared five candidates eligible to stand for the governing body's presidency over one week ago. Platini, however, was absent from the list, as his integrity check - a mandatory, two-step process for all candidates - will apparently not be carried out until his disciplinary case is completed.

Related: Ad-hoc Electoral Committee admits 5 candidates for FIFA presidency

From the CAS' media release:

Michel Platini has filed an urgent appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the FIFA Appeal Committee decision, dated 3 November 2015 and notified on 18 November 2015, confirming the decision rendered on 7 October 2015 by the Adjudicatory Chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee to impose a provisional ban of 90 days on Michel Platini from taking part in any kind of football-related activity at national and international level.

In his appeal, Michel Platini has also requested that the current provisional suspension be stayed until a final decision of FIFA on the merits of this case.

The appeal has been notified to FIFA also today. The CAS will determine the next steps of this procedure next week, after consultation with the parties concerned.

FIFA's Ethics Committee provisionally suspended the pair in October, as well as secretary general Jerome Valcke, for 90 days from all football activities after the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland opened criminal proceedings against Blatter, suspecting him of making a "disloyal payment" valued at CHF 2 Mio. (£1.35 million, €2 million) to Platini at the expense of FIFA in February 2011.

Blatter insists that the payment was based on a "gentleman's agreement" as there is reportedly no written contract for the transaction.

Related - Blatter: Payment to Platini based on 'gentleman's agreement'

According to Owen Gibson of the Guardian, Blatter is likely to also file an appeal at the CAS, and Paul Kelso of Sky Sports reports that Blatter and Platini are expected to discover whether they receive lengthy bans of around five years by Christmas.