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    Unashamed Blatter insists 'I'll be back'

    Chris Borg and Matias Grez, for CNN

    Updated 1706 GMT (0106 HKT) December 21, 2015

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    Story highlights

    • Blatter defiant despite FIFA's 8-year ban
    • "Even suspended I am the president" Blatter says
    • Hour-long news conference followed FIFA Ethics Committee decision

    (CNN)He has been banned from all football activity for eight years by FIFA's Ethics Committee -- but suspended president Sepp Blatter said he was "not ashamed" and insisted: "I (do) not regret."

    Blatter faced the media after news of his ban, and a matching punishment for UEFA president Michel Platini, was announced by FIFA, Monday.
      READ: Blatter and Platini hit with 8-year FIFA ban
      In a rambling, hour-long news conference at FIFA's former headquarters at Sonnenberg, Zurich, the Swiss insisted he was still president, vowed to fight his punishment and channeled Arnold Schwarzenegger, saying: "I'll be back."
      Blatter said he was "sorry for me" and believed he was "a punching ball" who had been "tainted in this world of humanitarian qualities."
      Read More
      And the 79-year-old -- who also took a moment to congratulate Barcelona on winning the Club World Cup at the weekend -- told reporters from around the world that he was "a man of principles."
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