By Cecile Mantovani LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - Disgraced former FIFA president Sepp Blatter appeared before sport's highest tribunal, the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS), on Thursday to appeal against his six-year ban from soccer. The 80-year-old, who headed soccer's global governing body for 17 years until he resigned in June last year, was banned from all football-related activity last December along with the then European soccer boss, Michel Platini. "My name wouldn’t be Sepp Blatter if I didn’t have faith, if I wasn’t optimistic," he told reporters as he arrived for the hearing. More...