Blatter, Platini face FIFA ethics hearings within two weeks

GENEVA --

Facing life bans for corruption, Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini are expected to go before the FIFA ethics committee within two weeks.

A person familiar with the cases tells The Associated Press the hearings should take place from Dec. 16-18 in Zurich. Verdicts are expected within days. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the information has not been made public.

Blatter and Platini face separate hearings before the ethics court led by German judge Joachim Eckert. Both are serving 90-day interim bans over Platini's $2 million payment from FIFA that Blatter approved in 2011 as backdated salary. They deny wrongdoing.

Platini's Paris-based lawyer, Thibaut d'Ales, said last month that FIFA ethics prosecutors requested a life ban for the UEFA president.