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Valcke slams FIFA after ban recommendation

Sepp Blatter's former right-hand man, Jerome Valcke, has hit out at the decision of FIFA's ethics committee to recommend a nine-month ban.

FIFA's Secretary General Jerome Valcke
FIFA's Secretary General Jerome Valcke has hit out at a recommendation to ban him for nine months. (AAP)

Jerome Valcke has blasted FIFA's ethics committee after the watchdog recommended a nine-year ban should be imposed against Sepp Blatter's former right-hand man.

FIFA's secretary-general was suspended from his position for 90 days last October after being caught up in the corruption scandal that has engulfed football's world governing body.

The committee made the recommendation following allegations relating to the sale of World Cup tickets and also requested the Frenchman be fined $US1000,000.

The claims against Valcke stem from former Israeli soccer player Benny Alon telling a news conference in Zurich last September that he agreed in 2013 to pay cash to Valcke to secure plum tickets for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

He said the plan was to then sell the tickets to fans at a markup and split the proceeds with Valcke.

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Alon said the deal fell through and he never paid the soccer official.

A statement issued on behalf of Valcke's US lawyer said the ethics committee had "chosen to ignore Jerome Valcke's exemplary conduct and extraordinary contributions during his long tenure as secretary general".

"Today's press release is nothing more than a self-serving public relations effort to wrongly attack Mr Valcke in a desperate attempt to try to prove that FIFA can police itself.

"Mr Valcke did absolutely nothing wrong as any independent and fair review of the facts would establish."

Valcke had been suspended went almost unnoticed amid the suspension of Blatter and the charging of 41 people, including top FIFA officials, by US prosecutors for offences including corruption, fraud and money laundering.

He had been placed on leave by FIFA less than a month earlier.

Borbely completed his investigation on the day that Valcke's suspension was due to expire and requested it be extended for a further 45 days pending a final decision in the case, the committee statement said.

His report, alleged Valcke had violated seven articles of the FIFA code of ethics, including ones on loyalty and conflicts of interest, has been handed to FIFA's chief ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, who will decide on sanctions.

Valcke has already implied that he would stand down following February's election for Blatter's replacement.

Valcke joined FIFA in 2003 as marketing director but was fired in December 2006 for his part in botched sponsorship negotiations with credit card firms MasterCard and Visa.

Eight months later, he was re-hired as secretary general and oversaw the preparations for both the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the 2014 tournament in Brazil.

Blatter and UEFA boss Michel Platini, the two most powerful men in world soccer, were banned for eight years in December for ethics violations.

Both deny wrongdoing.


3 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP



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