体坛英语新闻：Ex-UEFA boss sees football ban upheld, reduced to 4 years

GENEVA, May 9 (Xinhua) -- The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruled Monday that suspended UEFA head Michel Platini will incur a four-year ban from football-related activities, down from the initial six-year suspension requested by international football association, FIFA.

Platini's fine was also reduced from 80,000 Swiss francs to 60,000 Swiss francs (82,450 to 61,839 U.S. dollars) by CAS' arbitration panel.

The Frenchman appealed on the basis that a two-million-Swiss-franc payment in his favor made by ex-FIFA head Sepp Blatter four months prior to the 2011 FIFA elections was legitimate.

The 60-year-old justified the payment as back-pay, claiming he had verbally agreed with Blatter in 1998 to an annual salary of one million Swiss francs.

A valid employment contract between Platini and FIFA effective from 1999 stipulated an annual salary of 300,000 Swiss francs.

In light of this, CAS deemed the transaction, which took place over eight years after Platini's contract ended in 2002 when he became a member of the association's executive committee, was unlawful as no document established at the time of contractual relations justified the payment.

The amount did not correlate with the alleged unpaid part of his salary either.

Though ruling a six-year suspension too severe, the three-man arbitral panel decided a four-year suspension was warranted in light of evidence pointing toward ethical misconduct.

"The CAS panel was of the opinion that a severe sanction could be justified in view of the superior functions carried out by Mr. Platini (FIFA Vice-President and UEFA President), the absence of any repentance, and the impact that this matter has had on FIFA's reputation," CAS added.

At the helm of the European football body since 2007, Platini had been issued a temporary ban in October 2015 following corruption allegations.

The decision means he is banned from any football-related activity at a national and international level. (1 Swiss franc=1.03 U.S. dollars)