Suspended FIFA President SEPP Blatter hospitalized

Sepp Blatter, the suspended president of soccer’s world governing body FIFA, is spending the week in a Swiss hospital following a stress-related incident, according to his personal spokesman Klaus Stohlker. Blatter, 79, had originally undergone tests and planned to stay home, but his doctors elected to keep him under observation in hospital over the weekend, said the spokesman.

Stohlker added that Blatter, who is serving a 90-day suspension imposed by FIFA’s disciplinary body in October, is doing well and “fully working on his fight against the ethics committee.

In a statement relayed by Stohlker on Wednesday, Blatter said: “I’m the elected president of FIFA, elected by the FIFA Congress and its 209 members, and no committee can replace me.” Blatter, who has denied any wrongdoing, is accused of making a “disloyal payment” of 2 million Swiss francs ($1.99 million) to Michel Platini, who is currently suspended from his role as head of European soccer, in 2011, and cutting a television rights deal that was detrimental to FIFA.