ZURICH
— Sepp Blatter was in the hospital for a medical checkup Friday, his
lawyer said, adding that the suspended FIFA president "expects to be
home shortly."
Richard Cullen did not provide any further details, other than saying that Blatter is "fine."
His
statement came shortly after Blatter's spokesman, Klaus Stoehlker, said
the 79-year-old Swiss official was under "medical evaluation" for
stress-related reasons and had been told by doctors to relax.
Stoehlker
told The Associated Press that Blatter is "under a huge pressure" and
had been told to rest until next Thursday or Friday.
Stoehlker said "the doctors told him to stay cool and relaxed for a few days, and that's what he's doing."
Both
Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini were given 90-day bans in the
wake of a Swiss criminal case investigating financial misconduct at
FIFA. The criminal case centers on whether Blatter misused FIFA money by
making a $2 million payment to Platini.
Blatter has appealed the suspension.
"There's
not only, I think, the world's media who want to talk to him (Blatter),
who are asking for him," Stoehlker said. "There are also many other
pressure groups who have raised questions about him. ... He has so much
to do with all these commissions, with all these lawyers. It's good for
him to relax a few days under medical control."
The last six months have been the most turbulent period of Blatter's 17-year reign as FIFA president.
Blatter
was re-elected as FIFA president on May 29, three days after a raid in
Zurich by Swiss police resulted in seven officials being arrested and
criminal proceedings being opened regarding "systematic and deep-rooted"
corruption in soccer.
But
on June 2, Blatter announced he would resign, saying that "FIFA needs a
profound restructuring." After Swiss investigators raided his office
and interrogated him, Blatter was suspended from all football related
activities by the FIFA ethics committee on Oct. 8.
FIFA
is set to hold a presidential election on Feb. 26 to appoint a
successor to Blatter, who has said he hopes his suspension will be
lifted by the time of the vote.
The funeral in Russia on Thursday of Aleksei Alekseev, who died in the crash in Egypt.
Credit
Vasily Maximov/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
At
the White House earlier in the day, administration officials said that
the United States had not yet made a determination about the cause of
the crash, which occurred after takeoff from the Egyptian resort city of
Sharm el Sheikh. But they added that the government had not excluded
the possibility of a bomb.
