Platini to lead Europe’s fightback against FIFA’s Blatter

World Today

This is a Friday Nov. 28, 2008 file photo of UEFA president Michel Platini, left, and FIFA president Sepp Blatter as they stand back to back as they attend a meeting of European sports ministers,n Biarritz, southwestern France. Platini headed meeting of the UEFA board in Zurich Switzerland Thursday May 28, 2015 ahead of the FIFA presidential election on Friday. (AP Photo/Bob Edme)

As Barcelona and Juventus descend on Berlin to contest European soccer’s annual extravaganza on Saturday, the UEFA president will be formulating the continent’s fightback against Sepp Blatter’s FIFA.

Michel Platini, a European Cup winner with Juventus in 1985 who helped Blatter first get elected in 1998, has put UEFA on a direct collision course with FIFA in what he says is a mission to restore credibility to the sport.

Platini and UEFA led efforts to oust Blatter from power, supporting challenger Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan in Friday’s election, but the 79-year-old Swiss official extended his 17-year grip on power. Blatter’s victory came despite some of his close allies, including FIFA vice presidents, being arrested in Zurich ahead of the congress as part of an American investigation into soccer corruption.

Platini will now lead a UEFA meeting in Berlin on Friday to discuss their next move: begrudgingly put up with four more years of Blatter or seriously threaten a European exodus from FIFA.

English soccer leaders have been long-standing critics of Blatter and are hoping for action from Platini.

Report by Associated Press.


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