Article by Daniel Scorpie – Published Saturday, October 25, 2025, 11:05 / Updated Saturday, October 25, 2025 11:13
Michel Platinithe former president of UEFA, launched a very harsh attack on FIFA and sports justice. “It's scandalous what's happening!” said the great former French midfielder, three-time Ballon d'Or winner, at the Criminal Justice Festival.
Michel Platini neither forgets nor forgives after being kicked out of the system, initially suspended for eight years and tried by Swiss prosecutors.
A few months after the former UEFA boss was definitively cleared of charges of fraud, forgery and corruption, “Le Roi” launched his harshest attack yet.
“In Switzerland, the presidents of the commissions are appointed by FIFA. Everything is done between them. The Swiss prosecutors who carry out the investigations have been asked to stay at FIFA when they retire,” reveals the nicknamed “Le Roi”, former president for 8 years at UEFA.
Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter, at the time when they collaborated closely at the head of UEFA and FIFA / Photo: Imago
“The granddaughters heard from their colleagues that “your grandfather is corrupt”!”
“The Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) is paid one million euros every year by FIFA. It's a Swiss mafia where the sports court is the armed wing of FIFA officials to make decisions,” he continued his explosive accusations against the Zurich forum.
I'm not a broken man. I lived a good life and my family and friends helped me. I didn't become FIFA president, but… who cares? It's hard to live like this. Not for me, but for the family. My nieces would go to school and hear “your grandpa is corrupt”
Michel Platinithe former president of UEFA
Michel Platini revolted and demands the dismantling of the system he considers corrupt: “It's not normal and it's not right. These things have to change. Football doesn't belong to UEFA or FIFA, it belongs to everyone!
What if I'm a Dreyfus case of sports? I think so,” Platini also stated, referring to his acquittal by ordinary courts and his suspension by sports justice.
And Michel Platini appeared smiling and without regrets at the trial in Switzerland / Photo: TV capture
“FIFA didn't want me because they thought I would replace everyone, because FIFA is very good at everything. They were afraid I would change everything.”
A lawyer from Trinidad and Tobago, appointed by the FIFA president, asked me questions, but she incriminated me before I could answer and defend myself. From Trinidad, recorded on video. They just wanted to get me out for good. I had 150 federations on my side!
Michel Platinithe former president of UEFA
Platini: “Infantino didn't step aside, although he promised to help me return to FIFA after I get out of suspension”
Suspended in 2015 for eight years by FIFA's Ethics Commission for allegedly accepting a 2 million Swiss franc bribe in the form of an allowance paid for consultancy services to Sepp Blatter, Platini served his sentence in 2013.
The former Juventus and France international spoke about the World Cup in Qatar, saying “we voted for it because they reminded us that it was the seventh time the Arab world had bid and it had never been considered”.
Sepp Blatter (88 years old) physically feels the fight waged by the prosecutors against him in the joint corruption case in which Michel Platini is also accused / Photo: Captura TV
About Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, he said that “he had nothing to do with my situation from the beginning, but he didn't go away either, after he promised me that if I get out of suspension!”, while about Aleksander Ceferin he said laconically “I don't know him”.
Maybe I'll be back. I think football needs players to lead it. I would like to do that, so I'm searching in my mind and my thoughts if I can find a way to promote former players – not me, because I'm too old now – to decide the future of football!
Michel Platinithe former president of UEFA
