Soccer

Sepp Blatter was elected on ‘basis of a lie’, says Michel Platini

Blatter said he would step down in 2015, according to Platini

Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein is FIFA President Sepp Blatter's only challenger in Friday's presidential election after Luis Figo and Michael van Praag pulled out of the campaign last week. Video: Reuters
Mon May 25 2015 - 12:52

Sepp Blatter won backing to stay in power at FIFA four years ago "on the basis of a lie" that he would step down in 2015, UEFA president Michel Platini has claimed.

Blatter is standing for a fifth term of office this week and is expected to beat his rival Prince Ali bin Al Hussein of Jordan in Friday’s election in Zurich.

Platini insists Prince Ali is the right person to take over and that FIFA would “lack credibility” if Blatter, 79, is elected for another term. He also says Blatter is clinging on to power at FIFA because he fears life without it.

In 2011, Blatter announced to the UEFA Congress in Paris that he would not stand in 2015 — before performing a U-turn.

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Platini helped Blatter win his first term as FIFA president in 1998 and was viewed as the man most likely to succeed him, but insists his old mentor should have kept his word to step down this year.

Platini told L’Equipe: “Above all, I am disappointed for the European associations that I asked to support Sepp in 2011, on the basis of a promise, that Sepp had made in person. In fact, it was more than a promise; it was a real commitment.

“He looked us in the eye and asked us to support him in what would be his last term in office. And now here we are again, as if none of it had ever happened. I am perhaps too naive, too sensitive or too idealistic, but I have the uncomfortable feeling that I gave a personal undertaking on the basis of a lie — and so, indirectly and unknowingly, I lied to my member associations. That is what disappoints me, nothing else.”

Platini said Blatter could not envisage life without the FIFA presidency.

He added: “He is simply scared of the future, as he has given his life to the institution, to the point where he now identifies himself fully with FIFA.

“I understand the fear of that emptiness that he (Blatter) must have, it’s natural. But if he really loves FIFA, he should have put its interests ahead of his own.

“I am firmly convinced that Ali, whom I have known on a personal level for years, would make a great FIFA president. He has everything it takes.”

Platini said he still likes Blatter on a personal basis.

“I have nothing against Sepp,” Platini said, in a translated transcript of the interview provided by UEFA. “I like him as a person and I respect him. We have had some good times together, and nothing and no one can take that away.

“And while he remains in place, whether he likes it or not, and whether it is fair or not, FIFA will lack credibility and its image will be tarnished, and so it will lack authority.”