France Link

Michel Platini facing lifetime ban from football

Fifa ethics unit calls for the ban on former French player and Uefa chief over suspicions about payment he received from Fifa boss Sepp Blatter.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

Fifa vice-president Michel Platini could be facing a life ban from football, according to his lawyer, reports BBC News.

The suspended Uefa chief is serving a 90-day suspension on corruption charges alongside outgoing Fifa president Sepp Blatter, while Fifa's adjudicatory committee considers its verdict.

Platini's lawyer Thibaud d'Ales said the ethics investigators' "excessive" recommendations are a "scandal".

The adjudicatory committee intends to announce its verdict next month.

The Frenchman is facing sanctions over a "disloyal payment" that saw Platini, 60, receive 1.85 million euros from Blatter, 79, in 2011 for consultation work done nine years earlier.

The pair, who are serving 90-day provisional bans, have denied any wrongdoing, but admitted there was no written contract.

The adjudicatory committee, led by German judge Hans Joachim Eckert, opened proceedings on Monday, after receiving the ethics committee's recommendations.

Platini is currently barred from taking part in the campaign to replace Blatter as Fifa president in February, but is taking his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).

Read more of this report from BBC News.