Banished from soccer's ruling body for eight years for unethical conduct, Sepp Blatter won't give up the presidency of his beloved FIFA without a fight.<br />"I will fight.<br />I will fight until the end," Blatter said Monday at a news conference that started 90 minutes after he and former protege Michel Platini were each banned by FIFA's ethics committee.<br />It was a stunning removal of world soccer's most powerful leaders over a $2 million payment by FIFA to Platini, the president of European soccer's ruling body UEFA.<br />The payment is also the subject of a criminal investigation in Switzerland.<br />Platini, a FIFA vice president whose bid to succeed Blatter on Feb. 26 now looks over, described the proceedings as a "true mockery."<br />Their offences were judged to be conflict of interest and disloyalty to FIFA.<br />They avoided life bans because corruption was not proven.
