Thursday 17 March 2016 16:47, UK
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport against his six-year ban from football.
Blatter, 79, was initially banned for eight years by FIFA's ethics department over a 2011 payment to UEFA president Michel Platini.
That was reduced to six years on appeal, but Blatter is still hoping to have the ban scrapped altogether and has now gone to sport's most powerful judicial body.
"Joseph S Blatter has filed an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the decision issued by the FIFA Appeal Committee on February 16, 2016," a CAS statement read.
"In his appeal to the CAS, Mr Blatter seeks the annulment of the decision taken by the FIFA appeal committee in which he was suspended from all football-related activities at national and international level for six years.
"A CAS arbitration procedure is in progress. First, the parties will exchange written submissions and a panel of three arbitrators will be constituted.
"The panel will then issue directions with respect to the holding of a hearing. Following the hearing, the panel will deliberate and at a later date, it will issue a decision in the form of an arbitral award."
Platini has already appealed to CAS over his six-year ban, and the court's verdict could be delivered in May.
Both Blatter and Platini deny any wrongdoing and claim the £1.3million payment was made following a verbal agreement between the pair when the Frenchman worked for Blatter from1998 to 2002, though not paid until 2011 - 13 years after the agreement.
The explanation was rejected as "not convincing" by the ethics committee in December, though it did add the evidence had not been sufficient to secure charges of corruption.
Blatter was last month succeeded as FIFA president by Gianni Infantino, who was secretary general at UEFA under Platini.
