CAS Appeal: Platini To Know Fate May 9
Michel Platini, UEFA president[/caption]
UEFA president, Michel Platini will have to wait till May 9 to discover if his six-year ban from all football-related activity will be overturned.
The 60-year-old arrived Lausanne on Friday as he attended an eight-hour closed-door hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Platini, alongside Sepp Blatter were handed respective bans by FIFA Ethics Committee in December over a 2million Swiss francs (£1.3million) “disloyal payment” made to the Frenchman by the former president.
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Platini and his former mentor denied any wrongdoing, and claimed they had a verbal contract for the additional money. FIFA eventually paid Platini three months before Blatter was re-elected as president in 2011.
Speaking after the hearing CAS secretary general Matthieu Reeb said the verdict would come before May 9 after a three-member panel judged Platini’s case afresh.
Arriving for the CAS hearing, Platini was quoted by the website of French radio station RTL as saying: “Today it is the start of the match – a new match, a final – and we are all on the same line.
“I am optimistic, we will win.”
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Blatter, whose appeal will be heard on a later date, attended the hearing as a witness to answer questions on the payment he made to Platini in 2011.
Speaking to RTL, the former FIFA boss said: “I was interviewed as a witness of FIFA, I answered questions from FIFA, from the representatives of Mr Platini, and I answered questions from the (CAS) panel.
“I hope I have given important information in this case, which is of interest to me. I hope my participation helps in finding a solution to this problem.
“I found the atmosphere very fair, very correct, and I leave this meeting with a calm conscience.”
UEFA is expected to meet next week Tuesday in Budapest, Hungary, for its annual congress of 54 soccer federations who have been without their leader for seven months. One of its priorities include organizing a presidential election, possibly in Paris in June, to replace Platini if he remains banned.
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Platini will be hoping his verdict will be heard in time ahead of the elections.
However, It is unusual in sports law, that Platini’s verdict will be announced before a hearing is held for Blatter, despite their cases involving much of the same evidence
