Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter said he will accept the verdict of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) as he began his appeal against his six-year ban from FIFA Thursday.
“I will accept the verdict,” said the 80-year-old Blatter outside the CAS in Lausanne, Switzerland.
“I do hope it will be positive for me, but we are footballers. We learn to win but also we learn to lose,” he added.
In 2011, Blatter approved a two million Swiss franc payment (1.8 million euros) to Platini as “fee for consultancy work”.
Swiss prosecutors last September said they were investigating Blatter over the payment. FIFA later considered the payment “a conflict of interest”, thus banned Blatter and Platini for six years in February.