Sepp Blatter to attend Aug 25 FIFA ban appeal

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter will appear in person at the Court of Arbitration for Sport for his August 25 appeal against his ban from football, his spokesman said Tuesday.

"Mr. Blatter will go in person with his lawyer Lorenz Erni," Blatter spokesman Thomas Renggli told AFP.

FIFA's ethics committee initially suspended Blatter along with his one-time heir apparent Michel Platini in December for eight years over ethics violations.

Those bans were cut to six years in February.

Following Platini's appeal, the Lausanne-based CAS reduced Platini's suspension to four years.

Both men were thrown out of football over a 2 million Swiss franc (US$2 million, 1.8 million euros) payment that Blatter authorised to Platini in 2011.

FIFA's ethics judges deemed the payment "disloyal" to world football's governing body.

Blatter and Platini are the top names in a long list of football power players who have been brought down in a scandal that erupted in May of last year.

Blatter has claimed innocence, insisting he cannot be held responsible for the corruption committed by others.

In June, FIFA released details of an internal audit which found that Blatter and two top deputies -- Jerome Valcke and Markus Kattner -- enriched themselves with more than $80 million dollars in irregular bonuses and other benefits.

Blatter, who is the target of a criminal probe in Switzerland, was replaced as FIFA president by Gianni Infantino in February.