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IOC: FIFA must appoint "external candidate"

Paris - International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach on Thursday called on scandal-tarnished FIFA to consider a "credible external candidate" as president to help restore faith in world football's governing body.

Bach's statement came after FIFA president Sepp Blatter and UEFA president Michel Platini were both provisionally banned for 90 days by FIFA's ethics committee pending investigations.

Secretary-general Jerome Valcke was also suspended for 90 days while South Korean tycoon Chung Mong-Joon, a candidate for the FIFA presidency along with Platini, was banned outright for six years.

Issa Hayatou head of the Confederation of African Football, a Blatter ally, was put in charge of the multi-billion dollar body.

"Enough is enough. We hope that now, finally, everyone at FIFA has at last understood that they cannot continue to remain passive," Bach said. "They must act swiftly to regain credibility because you cannot forever dissociate the credibility of FIFA from the credibility of football.

"They should also be open for a credible external presidential candidate of high integrity, to accomplish the necessary reforms and bring back stability and credibility to FIFA."

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