FIFA bans Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini for eight years

The news ends Blatter's 17-year reign at the top of football, with the Swiss official having already been suspended by FIFA.

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Platini's bid to replace Blatter as FIFA president as also been left in tatters with the former French great also banned for eight years.

The ruling, handed down by FIFA's ethics committee, relates to a "disloyal payment" made to Platini worth £1.3 million in 2011.

The Frenchman and Blatter deny any wrongdoing and say the payment was honouring an agreement made in 1998 for work carried out between 1998 and 2002 when Platini worked as a technical advisor for the FIFA president. The payment was not part of Platini's written contract but the pair have insisted that it was a verbal agreement which is legal under Swiss law.

The timing of the payment has raised eyebrows, however - it took place nine years after Platini had stopped working for FIFA, and was made while Blatter was seeking support for a fourth term as president and facing a major challenge from Qatar's Mohamed Bin Hammam.

The payment was made less than a month after a meeting between Platini and Bin Hammam where it is understood they discussed the presidency. Two months later, Platini and UEFA's executive committee endorsed Blatter's candidacy. Blatter and Platini say the payment was completely unconnected with the presidential elections.

Platini has said he had not been paid the full amount agreed in 1998 because of FIFA's financial situation at the time.

A statement from FIFA said: "The adjudicatory chamber of the Ethics Committee chaired by Mr Hans Joachim Eckert has banned Mr Joseph S. Blatter, President of FIFA, for eight years and Mr Michel Platini, Vice-President and member of the Executive Committee of FIFA and President of UEFA, for eight years from all football-related activities (administrative, sports or any other) on a national and international level. The bans come into force immediately.

"The proceedings against Mr Blatter primarily related to a payment of CHF 2,000,000 transferred in February 2011 from FIFA to Mr Platini. Mr Blatter, in his position as President of FIFA, authorised the payment to Mr Platini which had no legal basis in the written agreement signed between both officials on 25 August 1999. Neither in his written statement nor in his personal hearing was Mr Blatter able to demonstrate another legal basis for this payment. His assertion of an oral agreement was determined as not convincing and was rejected by the chamber."

Platini was also been fined 80,000 Swiss Francs (£54,000), with Blatter fined 50,000 Swiss Francs (£33,000).

Both Blatter and Platini have confirmed they will appeal the decision.

Both men immediately denied any wrongdoing and said they would appeal to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Blatter, who spent four decades at FIFA, came out swinging, holding a news conference to tell reporters that he was sorry only that the president of FIFA was being treated as a "punching ball".

"I will fight for me and I will fight for FIFA," said Blatter, unshaven and with a sticking plaster on his cheek, but defiant.

He said FIFA's Ethics Committee had no right to relieve him of his duties. The committee operates independently of FIFA; its members are appointed by the FIFA Congress and cannot be members of any standing committees.

he three-times European footballer of the year, who captained France to victory in the 1984 European Championships and helped organise the 1998 World Cup in his homeland before working for Blatter, called the decision a "pure masquerade".

"It's been rigged to tarnish my name by bodies I know well and who for me are bereft of all credibility or legitimacy," he said in a statement.

Platini said his conscience was clear and that he would ultimately seek damages in civil proceedings. "I will fight this to the end," he said.

UEFA said it was disappointed with the ruling and "supports Michel Platini's right to a due process and the opportunity to clear his name" while FIFA tersely said it "acknowledges the decision".

Until his suspension, Platini had been the front-runner to succeed Blatter at the top of world soccer. Following Monday's ruling, the British bookmaker William Hill made Bahrain's Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa, president of the Asian Football Confederation, the 6-5 favourite, followed by Jordan's Prince Ali al Hussein on 13-8 and UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino, of Switzerland, on 5-2.

In the United States, prosecutors have indicted 27 current or former soccer officials, including eight former FIFA Executive Committee members and the current heads of both the North and South American federations, over allegations that they ran bribery schemes connected to the sale of television rights for soccer competitions. Twelve people and two sports marketing companies have been convicted.