LAUSANNE — UEFA President Michel Platini has made a formal appeal against his six-year ban from football at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the tribunal said Wednesday.
The French football legend has also asked the CAS to give a decision before the European Championships in France, which would enable him to attend if he is successful, the tribunal secretary general said.
Platini and former FIFA leader Sepp Blatter were banned for six years each over a two million dollar payment made by FIFA to Platini.
The ban against the two football powerbrokers was reduced from eight years by a FIFA appeal committee on Feb. 24. But Platini, 60, has said he wants to fight the ban further.
Blatter has said he will also appeal but the tribunal said no documents had yet been received.
“In appealing to the CAS, Michel Platini seeks to annul the decisions taken by the adjudicatory chamber of the FIFA ethics committee and by the FIFA appeal committee which lead to him being declared ineligible to take part in football-related activity at national and international level for six years,” said a CAS statement.
“A CAS arbitration procedure is in progress.
“First, the parties will exchange written submissions and a panel of three arbitrators will be constituted.”
The panel will consider a verdict after a hearing in Lausanne.
“In theory we have four months for a verdict, but Michel Platini has asked us for a decision before the start of Euro 2016 so we will adapt to the request of the parties,” CAS secretary general Matthieu Reeb said.
Platini was a key figure behind staging the European Championships in his native country and is desperate to be present when it starts in Paris on June 10.
Platini and Blatter were found guilty of conflicts of interest when Blatter approved a two million Swiss franc ($2 million/1.8 million euro) payment to Platini in 2011 for consultancy work done without a contract a decade earlier.
He has denied any wrongdoing insisting there was an oral contract. Swiss prosecutors are investigating the payment however and Blatter, 79, is a formal suspect.
Platini had been favorite to take over from Blatter but the ban demolished his hopes.
Platini’s deputy at UEFA, Gianni Infantino, won the election for the FIFA presidency Friday. Platini hopes to keep his post at UEFA if he can win his appeal.
The Frenchman went to CAS in December when he appealed against his provisional suspension by FIFA. This was turned down.
Blatter has also pledged to appeal his six-year ban at CAS.
Platini remains the UEFA president in name with no interim leader appointed. UEFA has said it will not replace Platini with an election until the appeals process at CAS is over. That typically takes several months.
Today, UEFA has no working president or general secretary ahead of an executive committee meeting Friday.
Platini should resign: Rauball
Michel Platini should resign as UEFA president as soon as possible to fill the leadership vacuum within European football’s governing body, the boss of the German FA has suggested.
Reinhard Rauball, the interim president of the German FA (DFB), says Platini should stand down now so his replacement can be discussed and voted on at the next UEFA congress in Budapest on May 3.
“Currently, UEFA doesn’t have a leader in either of the two most important positions: Platini is suspended and the former general secretary Gianni Infantino is now at FIFA,” Rauball told magazine Sport Bild.
“In the summer, the European championships will take place and a lot of things need to be prepared and agreed.
“I think it is urgent that there is a discussion about an alternative (president) in terms of the congress in May.
“One has to distinguish between the personal interests of Platini and the capacity to function of UEFA, which is a venture worth billions.”
On Wednesday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne confirmed that Platini had launched an appeal against the six-year ban handed both to him and ex-FIFA president Sepp Blatter over a two million dollar payment made by football’s governing body to the Frenchman.
He has also asked the CAS to give a decision before the European Championships in France, which would enable him to attend if he is successful.
Platini’s deputy at UEFA, Gianni Infantino, won the election for the FIFA presidency on Friday and Platini hopes to keep his post at UEFA if he can win his appeal.
Galatasaray banned from Europe for two years
UEFA Wednesday banned Turkish champion Galatasaray from all European competition for two years for breaching spending rules.
A UEFA statement said the ban was ordered by the UEFA club financial control adjudicatory chamber after Galatasaray “failed to comply with the terms of the settlement agreement” made with the European body in May 2014.
UEFA referred the case to its tribunal in June after Galatasaray did not balance its budget for 2015-2016 as promised. — Agencies
