Platini withdraws support from Blatter; May Contest Against Him for FIFA Presidency
By Opeyemi Oladunjoye
The UEFA president, Michel Platini has said he will no longer support the FIFA president, Sepp Blatter and has not ruled out putting his name forward as a candidate to replace him.
Platini has said that it is time for a breath of fresh air at the top of football’s world organising body, and has said that Blatter has gone back on his word not to stand as a candidate again.
“I am supporting him no longer, it’s finished. I have known him for a long time, I like him, but I’m not favourable to him having another term,” he told L’Equipe. “I supported him in 1998, but I do not support in 2014. And in the future, I shall not support Blatter. I told him that. I think FIFA needs a breath of fresh air.”
Blatter has faced angry calls from European football leaders to stand down at FIFA’s congress in Brazil, something he said “was the most disrespectful thing I’ve ever experienced in my entire life”. Platini, when asked why he had chosen now to withdraw his support, replied: “In 2011, he asked for [UEFA’s] and told us that this was his last term …”
Platini has said he is considering standing against Blatter and promised to make a decision by the draw for the Champions League on 28 August.
“It is an option,” he said when asked if he put his name forward. “But it is not because of Blatter that Michel Platini would stand. And it is not because of Sepp Blatter that Michel Platini would not appear. My only concern is what I want to do. I am almost 60 years and I need to know what I want.
“I just want to be sure what I want to do. In my life, I wanted to be a footballer, it went well. I was asked to coach, and to be president of the organising committee of the 1998 World Cup, I liked it. Then I became a member of the Executive Committee [FIFA]. Now I am very happy to be at UEFA. I am loved by national associations. But FIFA is something important.”
