The suspended UEFA chief Michel Platini, arrived on Friday at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the Swiss city of Lausanne to appeal his six-year FIFA ban for ethics violations, with his future in football hanging in the outcome.
The stakes could not be higher for the 60-year-old former Juventus star and suspended head of UEFA, the European football confederation. A favourable verdict and he will take his place in the stands at the Stade de France for the Euro 2016 opener between hosts France and Romania on June 10. A negative verdict will mean he will be barred from entering the national stadium, his glittering career in the sport having come to an ignominious end. The Frenchman has been sanctioned over an infamous two million Swiss franc ($2 million, 1.8 million euro) payment he received in 2011 from then-FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
FIFA’s ethics committee in December banned both men from all football activities for eight years but later on the suspensions were cut to six years in the month of February although they both insist they did nothing wrong and that the payment of which they were accused was part of a legitimate contract tied to consulting work that Platini did for FIFA between 1999 and 2002.
Platini’s entourage is hoping for a decision “before May 3” when UEFA holds its congress in Budapest. and Blatter, who is due to testify Friday, has also appealed to CAS and is awaiting a date for his hearing.
SEPP BLATTER(left) and MICHAEL PLATINI (right)
