SOCCER-FIFA/UEFA ARRIVALS UEFA members arrive for emergency meeting over Platini ban

Record ID: 135884

  • Title: SOCCER-FIFA/UEFA ARRIVALS UEFA members arrive for emergency meeting over Platini ban
  • Date: 15th October 2015
  • Summary: NYON, SWITZERLAND (OCTOBER 15, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF THE EUROPEAN HOUSE OF FOOTBALL (UEFA HEADQUARTERS) ON THE BANK OF LAKE GENEVA UEFA FLAGS OUTSIDE FRONT ENTRANCE TRUCK OUTSIDE UEFA HEADQURTERS WITH A SIGN, READING: "DESTRUCTION OF CONFIDENTIAL DOCUMENTS" SECURITY GUARD VARIOUS OF UEFA MEMBERS AND EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION MEMBERS ARRIVING IN CARS WITH BLACKED-
  • Embargoed: 30th October 2015 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Switzerland
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA5UKD49K0EPRMVCZRX7D91BAIP
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Michel Platini's bid to become FIFA president is under discussion at an emergency meeting of soccer's European governing body UEFA in Nyon, Switzerland on Thursday (October 15).
    UEFA boss Michel Platini and current FIFA president Sepp Blatter were suspended by the world body's Ethics Committee last week.
    For the last year, UEFA has played the role of a disapproving onlooker as FIFA, the sport's global body, has been engulfed by the worst crisis in its 111-year history.
    Platini, who was first elected as UEFA president in 2007 and has twice been re-elected unopposed, has said repeated reports of corruption involving FIFA made his stomach turn.
    But the situation changed dramatically when Blatter and Platini were both given a 90-ban by FIFA's ethics committee last Thursday (October 8), pending a full investigation into both men's activities.
    Two weeks earlier, Switzerland's attorney general's office had initiated criminal proceedings against Blatter over a two million Swiss francs ($2.1 million) payment from FIFA to Platini in 2011.
    The payment was made nine years after the Frenchman, described by prosecutors as "between a witness and an accused persons", completed a spell working for Blatter as an adviser.
    Platini, who handed in his nomination papers hours before his ban, himself described events as "farcical", the accusations against him as "astonishingly vague" and said numerous associations had stood behind him.
    Initially, UEFA had said that its executive committee had "full confidence" in Platini and "stands fully behind him".
    It was the sort of loyalty which Platini would have expected. In eight years at the helm, the former French international has managed to appease both the powerful European clubs, who reap the benefits of a financially successful Champions League competition, and the smaller national associations.
    On Thursday, UEFA's executive committee and representatives of its 54 members arrived at the House of European Football in Nyon near Geneva for the crisis meeting.
    They will have to decide whether to continue backing Platini as a FIFA presidential challenger or quietly drop the man who has been their unquestioned leader for eight years.
    They could try to push for postponement of the Feb. 26 FIFA presidential election, a move which could conceivably give Platini time to prove his innocence but which could also be interpreted as an attempt to amend the rules.
    Otherwise, they will be left with less than two weeks to find an alternative before the Oct. 26 deadline when candidates have to register officially.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register