Michel Platini says 'a group of people decided to kill me' over Fifa ban

Michel Platini, speaking from his home in the south of France, said “a group of people decided to kill me” after he was banned from football over an alleged unlawful payment made in 2011 while he was Uefa president. He maintains he would have become Fifa president if not for the ban, and last year a Swiss appeals court acquitted both him and Sepp Blatter.

Platini said the dispute centred on a £1.35m payment he called in for work as Blatter’s technical adviser between 1999 and 2002, and that both men said the deal had been agreed verbally with an innocent reason for the delay. The arrangement came to light in September 2015 as Blatter agreed to step down amid scandal and Platini was expected to succeed him; Platini has called the subsequent ban “a big injustice” and “political.” He criticised modern governance at Fifa and Uefa, saying Gianni Infantino “is not a good No 1” and has become “more of an autocrat” since the pandemic, though he told the Observer he did not regard Infantino as one of the instigators and that Infantino “profited from the situation.” On Uefa, Platini said Aleksander Ceferin should be “more present in Fifa” and warned that the growing power of leading clubs and the expanded European Football Clubs body pose a continuing threat to the game.

Platini said nothing now hangs over him “bar a conviction that he was cheated” and that he has been treated well by many inside football.

Key Topics

Sports, Michel Platini, Fifa, Uefa, Sepp Blatter, Gianni Infantino