Governing Bodies
MICHEL PLATINI FACES SWISS PROSECUTOR IN PAYMENT PROBE
Former European football chief Michel Platini met with the Swiss public prosecutor on Monday (Aug 31) as part of proceedings investigating a two million Swiss-franc (S$3 million) payment he received in 2011.
Platini was summoned to the Swiss capital Bern by prosecutor Thomas Hildbrand. Sepp Blatter, the former president of the sport’s world governing body Fifa, is due to meet the prosecutor on Tuesday as part of the same probe.
Platini, the ex-head of European football’s governing body Uefa, arrived at the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) complex in a taxi accompanied by his lawyer Dominic Nellen.
Wearing a suit and blue shirt without a tie and carrying a blue folder, he said “hello” towards waiting journalists and smiled briefly as he went to the registration office.
He briefly came out again to enter the main premises through a revolving metal gate.
Platini and Blatter each face interrogation from the public prosecutor as part of the proceedings, which were opened in 2015.
In June, Hildbrand formally added Platini to an investigation into the payment he received from Fifa in 2011 for an advisory job completed in 2002, on suspicion of “complicity in unfair management, embezzlement and forgery in securities”.
The 65-year-old former French football great now has the status of “accused” alongside Blatter.
Platini said at the time that the OAG had “confirmed in writing in May 2018” that his case was closed.
Two other former FIFA executives, Frenchman Jerome Valcke, the former secretary-general, and German Markus Kattner, the former financial director, are being investigated on “suspicion of unfair management”, the OAG said.
Kattner will be questioned on Sept 4.
Platini said he was being persecuted by Fifa.
“After five years, it is quite possible that Fifa will continue to harass me through complaints with the sole aim of keeping me out of football and smearing my reputation,” he said in June.
Blatter, who is 84, told AFP the payment was above board.
“It was a back pay for work done by Michel Platini. The sum was validated by the finance commission. It cannot be a criminal offence,” Blatter said, adding that he was “serene” ahead of the new hearing.
FIFA deemed the sum a “disloyal payment” and suspended Blatter and Platini from all football-related activities, which prevented the former Uefa chief from running for the Fifa presidency in 2016.
Platini appealed against his initial eight-year suspension at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which reduced it to four years, then the Swiss Federal Court and finally at the European Court of Human Rights.
Hildbrand questioned Blatter in late July and early August in connection with a separate investigation into television rights contracts issued to the Caribbean Football Union.
Platini is regarded among world football’s greatest players. He won the Ballon d’Or prize – considered the most prestigious individual award in 1983, 1984 and 1985.
Only Lionel Messi (six) and Cristiano Ronaldo (five) have won it more times than Platini, while Johann Cruyff and Marco van Basten also won it three times.
Platini won two Italian titles and one European Cup with Juventus, while he also won the 1984 European Championships with France.
After retirement from playing and a spell managing the French national team, he turned to football administration and was UEFA president from January 2007 to December 2015.
By Kunle Solaja.
Nigeria is set to host the 48th Ordinary General Assembly of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), marking the third time the country will stage the continent’s top football gathering.
The development was confirmed in a statement issued by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), which disclosed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on the sidelines of the ongoing Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi, Kenya, approved Nigeria’s proposal to host the event.
The approval followed a meeting between President Tinubu and CAF President Patrice Motsepe, attended by Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, NFF President Ibrahim Musa Gusau, former NFF President and Special Adviser to the CAF President Amaju Melvin Pinnick, as well as CAF Acting General Secretary Samson Adamu.
Sports Villages Square affirms that Nigeria previously hosted the CAF Congress at the National Theatre in Lagos in March 1980 and again in February 2009, when the late CAF President Issa Hayatou secured another four-year term in office.
In addition to this year’s 48th Ordinary General Assembly, scheduled for October, Nigeria also secured the hosting rights of the CAF Awards ceremony. The annual awards gala, which celebrates Africa’s top football performers, has been staged in Morocco over the past three years.
Nigeria had earlier hosted the CAF Awards when telecom firm, Globacom, was the headline sponsor. This year’s event will be the seventh to be held in Nigeria after those of 2005, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014 and 2016.
The CAF Ordinary General Assembly traditionally attracts key football stakeholders from across the continent, including presidents of CAF’s 54 member associations, representatives of the six zonal unions and senior football administrators.
The CAF Awards ceremony is regarded as one of African football’s flagship events, honouring outstanding players, coaches, clubs and officials in a glamorous setting that showcases the continent’s football excellence.
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FIFA’s independent Ethics Committee has banned former Guyana Football Federation (GFF) General Secretary Ian Alves from all football-related activities for five years after finding he sexually harassed female staff members.
FIFA also fined Alves 20,000 Swiss francs ($22,000) after determining that he had breached provisions of the FIFA Code of Ethics relating to the protection of physical and mental integrity, abuse of position and general duties.
“FIFA has a strict stance against all forms of abuse in football,” the organisation said on Monday.
The decision followed a review of written statements from the victims, documents provided by the GFF, submissions from Alves, and other evidence gathered during the investigation.
Alves stepped down from his position in 2024.
The ban came into force on Monday, when the terms of the decision were notified to Alves, and the full grounds for the ruling will be communicated within 60 days in accordance with the Code of Ethics, FIFA added.
The GFF did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Alves could not immediately be reached for comment.
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FIFA President Gianni Infantino said on Thursday that he planned to seek re-election for a fourth term in a bid to continue to lead the governing body of world soccer.
Infantino confirmed he would run for the 2027–2031 term in the closing moments of the FIFA Congress in Vancouver, which comes less than two months before the start of the World Cup.
The election will be held on March 18 in Morocco, which is set to co-host the 2030 World Cup.
Infantino said he was “honoured and humbled” to have the chance to run for a fourth term.
The Italian-Swiss took office in 2016, replacing Sepp Blatter, and was re-elected unopposed in 2019 and 2023.
Infantino has pushed for the expansion of FIFA competitions during his tenure, with this year’s World Cup in North America the first to feature 48 teams, while the women’s tournament in 2023 has been expanded to 32 teams.
Infantino’s tenure has also drawn some criticism over issues such as high World Cup ticket prices and the decision to award the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize to U.S. President Donald Trump at the World Cup draw in December.
Earlier this month, the council of South American football’s governing body (CONMEBOL) said in a statement it would unanimously support the 56-year-old if he decided to seek another term.
-Reuters
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