January 10 – In search of a final career challenge, has Michel Platini decided which path to take?
According to l’Equipe, Platini is currently studying the possibility of running for the presidency of FIFPro, the global players’ union, with term of current president Philippe Piat ending in two years.
Piat would certainly favour his countryman taking over, says the paper, though whether the organisation would sanction a second successive Frenchman at the helm is open to question.
Reports suggest the former UEFA president’s name might be discussed by FIFPro’s top brass at their next meeting in February.
Platini, heir apparent to Sepp Blatter until they were both toppled from power, has also been reported as considering going for the presidency of the French federation. At 64 and with his four-year ban having just expired, he is certainly not intending to retire, having always insisted he was innocent of any wrongdoing.
Last month FIFA announced it was launching legal action against both Blatter and Platini to recover the CHF 2 million paid to Platini in 2011 on Blatter’s authority, which led to long bans for both of them.
The FIFA governance committee told the organisation’s leadership that because the money had not been repaid, despite it having been ruled an “undue payment”, FIFA should initiate legal proceedings .
The payment was exposed in 2015 and although both Blatter and Platini insisted it was made under an oral agreement as back payment for work carried out between 1998 and 2002, there was no written contract.
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