Michel Platini resigned as president of UEFA
Michel Platini definitively lost his battle. He announced his resignation as president of UEFA shortly after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) put an end to his career as a football leader by upholding the suspension issued against him by FIFA, only reducing it from six to four years.
As an immediate consequence of this decision by the highest sports jurisdiction, the former French footballer announced his departure from the European football presidency, but pointed out that he will now continue his "fight" before the Swiss courts, denouncing being a victim of "profound injustice".
TAS was the great hope for Michel Platini to clear his name, tainted by a controversial payment of 1.8 million euros from FIFA in 2011, and to be able to preside, as head of UEFA, over the European Championship that his country, France, will host from June 10 to July 10.
But that possibility evaporated definitively with the confirmation of his downfall, as he had already had to give up the race to preside over FIFA, leaving the way clear for his then number 2, Gianni Infantino, who was elected as the new president of the International Federation at the end of February.
Michel Platini could not avoid emphasizing that the duration of his suspension prevents him "de facto and, as luck would have it, from running for the next FIFA election" in 2019.
Source (AFP)