France, March 24 -- Sepp Blatter, the former supremo of world football's governing body Fifa, was on Wednesday effectively handed a lifetime ban from the game for his part in a merry-go-round of bonus payments involving his second-in-command, the finance chief and a vice-president.

Blatter, who ran Fifa between 1998 and 2015, was suspended from all football related activity for eight years by Fifa's ethics committee in December 2015 for corruption.

The punishment, later reduced to six years, was due to run out on 8 October.

The new ban of six years and eight months will take effect from that point for the 85-year-old Swiss.

He has also been ordered to pay a fine of 904,000 euros.

Sanctions

The same sanctions were imposed on Blatter'...