MANCHESTER, England: Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, currently serving a ban from the sport, told Reuters on Thursday he is considering legal action against the global football body in an attempt to clear his name.
Blatter, who led FIFA for 17 years, was handed a six-year ban for ethics violations, imposed amid the biggest corruption scandal to shake world soccer’s governing body in 2015.
The 81-year-old Swiss said that while “for the time being there is no legal action,” he and his lawyers were working on a potential case.
“My aim is to look into the decision of FIFA’s Ethic-Committee in view of informations, and even evidences that I have received, in the meantime, in connection with my suspension,” Blatter told Reuters via email.
“We are working on this case – and looking forward for development.”
It is likely that any legal action from Blatter would take place in the Swiss civil courts.
FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In December 2016, Blatter lost an appeal in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the suspension.
CAS ruled that Blatter had authorized payments to Michel Platini, then the European football boss, worth over $2 million that amounted to “undue gifts” and therefore violated FIFA’s code of ethics.
Blatter had resigned in June 2015 after several dozen football officials, including FIFA executive committee members and former members, had been indicted in the United States on graft charges, along with two sports marketing firms.
The former FIFA president was not among those indicted, but became embroiled in scandal when he was banned from all football-related activity the following December by FIFA’s Ethics Committee along with Platini.
The men were banned, initially for eight years, over a payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($1.98 million) that FIFA made to Platini in 2011, with Blatter’s approval, for work done a decade earlier. The bans were reduced to six years by FIFA’s appeals committee in February 2016.
Blatter, who has denied all charges against him, had compared the FIFA Ethics Committee investigation to “the inquisition.”
In 2015 Swiss prosecutors opened a criminal investigation into Blatter on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and misappropriation but no charges have yet been brought.
The man who headed FIFA from 1998 to 2015 says he intends to attend June’s World Cup in Russia after a personal invitation from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Blatter considering legal action against FIFA
Blatter considering legal action against FIFA
Gooch, Detry and Uihlein share lead at halfway stage in Riyadh
- Smash GC lead the team competition at LIV Golf Riyadh with score of 30-under
RIYADH: Three shots separate the top 13 players after 36 holes here for the LIV Golf season opener.
The competition shifted up a gear for the second round of the Roshn Group LIV Golf Riyadh 2026, as the world’s best continued to battle under the lights, with cooler and windier conditions in round two.
With the event reaching its midway point, the leaderboard has begun to take shape, setting the stage for a high-stakes weekend in the Saudi capital.
Talor Gooch (Smash GC) has joined overnight leaders Thomas Detry (4Aces GC) and Peter Uihlein (RangeGoats GC) after Thursday night’s round, carding a consecutive five-under 67 to move to 10-under for the tournament with 36 holes to play.
Sitting one back from the leaders on nine-under after carding an under-four 68 in round two, Sebastian Munoz (Torque GC) reflected on his round: “It started a bit slow with a bogey on No. 2. I hit a bad bunker shot.
“Then after that I made some good birdies and kept it moving along. The wind came over, and I was able to kind of keep my focus and keep hitting good shots and keep giving myself good chances, and made some birdies on the back.
“Then I made some solid pars coming in. So really happy where the game is at.”
Meanwhile, first-round co-leader Detry remained firmly in the hunt, following up his opening 65 with a steady three-under 69 as he continues to embrace the atmosphere on course.
“Got off to a pretty shaky start. It was a bogey-free round yesterday, but today I felt a little uncomfortable early on. I managed to sort of settle the ship then with two birdies on holes No. 4 and 5, and then just fought hard.
The temperature sort of dropped after nine holes and the wind picked up, as well. I wasn’t really expecting that. It was sort of a bit of a fight out there, which was nice. I like it.”
“I was sort of out there taking care of my business, and suddenly I saw the leaderboard with the 4Aces GC popping up, and that sort of reminded me that I was also playing for the team, which is great.”
After shooting a five-under 67 for the second time in his two rounds Gooch commented: “Yeah, it was a really solid day. Really good ball control. The only bogey made was a three-putt from about 15 feet (4.5 meters).
“Made life really simple today. Hit a bumping of greens, gave myself some good looks and made a few. These are the type of days of golf that you wish you could have more of.”
On his first experience as captain of Smash GC, he said: “I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the year through the first two rounds. We’ve still got a lot of golf left, so we’ve got to go and continue to play great.
“But like I said, I couldn’t have predicted or hoped for a better start. It’s a great start, and hopefully we can continue going and just set the tone for a great year after this first week.”
Gooch’s Smash GC teammate Jason Kokrak fired a bogey-free eight-under to storm the leaderboard and get within two shots of the leaders. “It was really good. Got into a couple sticky situations but made a couple of nice par saves,” he said.
“Got hot for about a nine- or 10-hole stretch. Drove the ball very nicely. Way better than yesterday. So very pleased with how I played.”
Uihlein is eager to bring his fine form into the weekend after shooting a three-under 69 in round two. When asked about the potential of bringing home his first LIV Golf trophy, he said: “Yeah, it would be awesome.
“That’s what we want to do. We want to win individually. We want to win as a team. But winning individually? Yeah, that’s what the goal is, to win.
“Now that we get world ranking points, you can jump up in the OWGR (Official World Golf Ranking) and try to get in the majors. That’s definitely the goal.”
In the team standings, Smash GC (-30) took a commanding lead after those low scores from Kokrak and Gooch. Torque GC (-27) and 4Aces GC (-23) stay firmly in the race for the podium with all four player scores counting for all four rounds this season.
Round 2 – Individual Leaderboard:
1 – Talor Gooch (Smash GC) | R2 (-5) - After R2 (-10)
1 – Peter Uihlein (RangeGoats GC) | R2 (-3) - After R2 (-10)
1 – Thomas Detry (4Aces GC) | R2 (-3) - After R2 (-10)
Round 1 – Team Leaderboard:
1 – Smash GC (-30)
2 – Torque GC (-27)
3 – 4Aces GC (-23)
