Banned FIFA president Blatter taken ill

Suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter is recovering at home after being taken ill this week.

The 79-year-old, who is currently serving a 90-day ban from football, is reported to have suffered a stress-related illness but has not been hospitalised.

Klaus Stoehlker, Blatter’s adviser, confirmed to Omnisport: “The president is under medical evaluations at home and not in hospital. He will be back in a few days.”

Blatter was suspended from duties by the FIFA ethics committee at the start of October as a result of criminal investigations into alleged corruption within world football’s governing body, with Issa Hayatou replacing him on a temporary basis.

The Swiss has already confirmed he will step down from the post permanently, with elections due to be held in February next year.

Blatter, who has appealed his suspension, has repeatedly protested his innocence against the allegations and recently accused UEFA and its president Michel Platini of campaigning to have him ousted from office.

“I became the primary target of the attack because for three years, and specifically after the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, UEFA did not want me as the president,” he told Russian news agency TASS.

“It was a conducted attack on the FIFA president. But the other confederations, they were with me. Only UEFA tried to bring me away. They did not succeed. Even with this tsunami I was re-elected as president. 

“And who has been involved in this attacking situation towards the FIFA president? Politics. The European Union. That is political interference in sport.”