Bengaluru, November 12: Former FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights against his 10-year ban for ethics breaches.
Valcke, who held the FIFA No.2 post during the now disgraced Sepp Blatter's presidency was fired in 2016 and banned from all football-related activity for 10 years by the FIFA ethics committee after being found to be involved in the resale of FIFA World Cup tickets and other ethics violations.
"I lodged an appeal November 2, Valcke's lawyer Stephane Ceccaldi told AFP news agency, confirming news reported by French daily Le Monde.
Jérôme Valcke refers to the European Court of Human Rights https://t.co/Zocmwp6XDl pic.twitter.com/XqnlWpfoHM
— Football News 24 (@Footballnews090) November 12, 2019
Valcke had earlier challenged the 10-year ban in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which later dismissed it.
CAS rejects Valcke appeal against 10-year ban
Valcke and Blatter were key figures in the massive graft scandal that rocked FIFA in 2015 and forced sweeping changes within the game's global governing body.
A French national, Valcke worked at FIFA from 2003 to January 2016, when he was sacked over his involvement in black market ticket sales and misconduct in television deals.
Subsequent investigations by FIFA's new management have also implicated Valcke in millions of dollars' worth of unregulated spending, notably on private jets.
Separately, he has been implicated in a Swiss criminal investigation involving the possible illegal sale of FIFA World Cup media rights to beIN media, whose wealthy Qatari owner Nasser Al Khelaifi is also the president of Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain.
(With inputs from Agencies)