STRASBOURG: Michel Platini, French former president of European football federation UEFA, is to take an appeal against his ban from the ban to the European Court of Human Rights writes KEIR RADNEDGE.

Platini, one-time captain, top scorer and then manager of the French national team, is serving a four-year suspension imposed by the ethics committee of world governing body FIFA of which he was once a vice-president.

The 62-year-old was considered to have breached the ethics code for accepting what was termed by Swiss police as a ‘disloyal payment’ of of $2m from FIFA in 2011, authorised by the then president Sepp Blatter.

Platini and Blatter always claimed the payment was a long-delayed fulfilment of a contract for work the Frenchman had undertaken for FIFA between 1998 and 2002.

In confirming his intention to maintain the fight to clear his name, Platini said: “This appeal is in line with what I have always said: I consider that I have committed no wrongdoing. It’s a matter of honour for me. I want justice I am due.”

Platini was initially banned for eight years by the FIFA ethics committee, reduced on appeal by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to four years.

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