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FIFA president Sepp Blatter and his UEFA counterpart Michel Platini could face a six-year ban from football-related activities due to corruption proceedings against them.
According to the Mirror, ethics officials are hoping to solve the case before Christmas so that situation can be cleared before February elections.
Both of them are already serving a 90-day provisional ban handed by the FIFA's Ethics Committee over claims that Platini had received a 'disloyal payment' of 1.35 million pounds from the outgoing president in 2011.
Platini could stand to replace Blatter as next president only if his ban ends before the election date.
Besides him, six other candidates will run in the race for 26th February election namely Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, the UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino, Liberia's FA president Musa Bility, Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman, former diplomat Jerome Champagne and South African businessman Tokyo Sexwale.
FIFA had plunged into an unprecedented crisis when Swiss prosecutors had opened criminal proceedings against Blatter over allegations that he had sold World Cup TV rights to disgraced former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner for 20 times below than their actual value.
