By Andrew Warshaw
October 1 – England’s Football Association says it will continue to back Michel Platini’s bid to become FIFA president despite the Frenchman being drawn into the FIFA corruption scandal with last week’s revelation that he received SFr 2million for carrying out work on behalf of Sepp Blatter at the time he was his special adviser.
The FA’s entire board agreed to support Platini but, significantly, called for greater clarity than the UEFA boss has so provided into the circumstances of the payment, saying the matter needed to be “fully examined”.
Following a board meeting at Wembley, an FA statement read: “In July, the FA board decided unanimously to support Michel Platini if he intended to stand for the presidency of FIFA. We did so because we thought he was an excellent president of UEFA and could bring those same leadership qualities to FIFA. We are still of that view.
“However, events of recent days have raised a number of issues which do need to be fully examined. We are following the ongoing investigation initiated by the Swiss attorney general with which Mr Platini is cooperating in full. We also recognise that Mr Platini has contacted the FIFA ethics committee inviting them to look into the matter and to interview him.”
“As we said back in July, the most important matter is the urgent reform of FIFA. We believe the whole structure of FIFA needs to be fundamentally changed and we are committed to our efforts to ensure this happens,” it said.
The SFr2 million is described by Swiss authorities as a “disloyal” payment – one against the interests of FIFA in other words – and was made nine years after Platini carried out the work between 1999 and 2002.
Some argue the FA has got itself into an embarrassing spot by virtue of its premature decision to support Platini before it knew of the other candidates and before he had issued a manifesto.
The deadline for nominations is October 26 and Platini’s odds of taking over from Blatter in February have lengthened considerably since last Friday though he has protested that he has done nothing wrong. He insists the payment, an outstanding amount in addition to money he had already received during the contracted period, was totally above board.
But he has still failed to fully explain why he received it only a couple of months before Blatter was re-elected unopposed for a fourth term.
When Blatter was re-elected again in May, the FA, being part of UEFA, backed Prince Ali bin al-Hussein, the only other candidate. The Jordanian has decided to run again and has made his feelings known about Platini, his one-time backer, in no uncertain terms.
“I conceded that election. Not because I was not the best candidate, but because others were using me to make room for themselves. They didn’t have the guts to run, but I did,” Prince Ali said recently.
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