Platini pledges to tell ‘whole truth’ at FIFA ban appeal

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said it had invited both Platini and FIFA’s legal representatives to a hearing on Tuesday “limited to the issue as to whether or not the provisional 90-day suspension imposed on M. Platini should be temporarily lifted”.

Blatter has been suspended by FIFA’s ethics committee since October after Swiss prosecutors opened an investigation into alleged criminal mismanagement at Federation Internationale de Football Association during Blatter’s tenure.

The investigation centres on a $US2 million payment from Federation Internationale de Football Association to Platini, a former France team captain and coach who has been UEFA president since 2002, in 2011 for work he completed between 1998 and 2002.

Platini insists the money was part of a verbal agreement he made with Blatter 13 years previously.

A verdict is expected before Friday and if in Platini’s favour he could also attend Saturday’s draw for the 2016 European Championships.

“I trust people, and the trust has been abused, but I did not know how it was abused. I hope that I was well heard today”.

While 79-year-old Blatter’s Federation Internationale de Football Association departure was already on the horizon, a longer suspension for the two would be hugely detrimental to Platini.

“Platini was not a member of UEFA’s executive committee at the time, so why would UEFA have any interest in his private affairs?”

The CAS panel judging Platini’s appeal must decide whether a ban from duty pending a full ethics investigation was an excessive sanction. It came as Blatter was preparing for a presidential election challenge by Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar.

He has discussed details of evidence in the case in media interviews and appeared to break terms of the ban by entering UEFA headquarters in Nyon – for a minute’s silence after terror attacks on Paris – and UEFA issuing statements and news updates on his behalf.

Platini’s lawyer Thibaud d’Ales said at the end of November that the ethics body’s investigatory chamber wants the UEFA chief banned for life and is hopeful the document in question will clear his client’s name.