MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Blatter confident his six-year ban from football will be lifted

“My name wouldn’t be Sepp Blatter if I didn’t have faith, if I wasn’t optimistic,” he told reporters before entering the Court of Arbitration for Sport

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter says he’s confident his six-year ban from football will be lifted. Blatter resigned as the head of FIFA in June 2015 after 17 years at the helm and just four days after his reelection for a fifth term he was handed an eight-year ban along with European football chief Michel Platini for ethics violations.

 “My name wouldn’t be Sepp Blatter if I didn’t have faith, if I wasn’t optimistic,” he told reporters before entering the Court of Arbitration for Sport Thursday morning.

“I’m sure at the end.... that the [CAS] panel will understand that the payment made to Platini was really a debt that we [owed] him and this is a principle, if you have debts, you pay them,” Blatter said.

The FIFA appeals committee reduced the bans for both men to six-years for their services in growing the game of football around the world.

Platini has already taken his appeal to CAS that decided his ban would be further reduced to four years. He appeared at CAS on Thursday to provide testimony on Blatter's behalf.

Blatter is seeking a full pardon for his alleged ethics violations including a US$2 million payment to Platini in 2011 for work done a decade prior to the payment. CAS has not said when a decision will be made regarding Blatter’s appeal.