UEFA President Michel Platini explains a payment he received from FIFA’s Sepp Blatter.

The head of world football’s governing body is accused of making a “disloyal” payment to the former Juventus midfielder, something which the Swiss explained as a “gentleman’s agreement”.

UEFA President Michel Platini explains a payment he received from FIFA’s Sepp Blatter.

The head of world football’s governing body is accused of making a “disloyal” payment to the former Juventus midfielder, something which the Swiss explained as a “gentleman’s agreement”.

“It was a man-to-man thing,” Platini told Le Monde, explaining that Blatter had wanted him as a football advisor.

“‘How much do you want?’ Blatter said, and I replied ‘one million’. He said ‘What do you want, rubles, pounds dollars?’. The Euro didn’t exist at that time.

“He said ‘ok, one million Swiss Francs’. I actually worked for several months without receiving anything. Eventually I said to Blatter: ‘do you have a problem paying me?’.

“He said ‘yes, I can’t pay you one million because of the salary limit. You have to understand, the general secretary earns 300,000 Swiss Francs. You can’t have more than three times his salary. So we’ll give you a contract for 300,000 Swiss Francs and I’ll give you the balance later’.

“I stopped working for him in 2002 when I joined the FIFA executive committee. I didn’t ask for it, because I didn’t miss it.

“[In 2011] I asked my staff to make contact with the management of FIFA’s finances, who asked Blatter if he owed me money.

“He said yes, so I sent an invoice at their request. In that I was wrong, to my detriment. I didn’t remember that I’d been paid 300,000 CHF I thought it was 500,000 and that I was owed another 500,000 for four years.

“So I sent an invoice for 2 million. I was paid 10 days later without any difficulty, and I paid all the charges and taxes on this sum, quite normally.”

Platini is not sure if the FIFA President is the source of the leak, but hopes he can still be a candidate for his successor.

“I have my doubts. Friendship? Yes, I admired him as a politician. He has a lot of charm, and I can say I was a little bewitched.

“Even if he wants to kill me politically, I retain a bit of affection for him for what we did together.

“I just hope this won’t stop me presenting myself [as a candidate]. It annoys them that a former football and not a pure politician wants to lead.

“But I don’t like to lose, especially in this business.”

Bygaby

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tickets Kit Collector