By Andrew Warshaw
August 29 – Will he or won’t he stand for FIFA President? It’s a question that has persued UEFA boss Michel Platini wherever he has turned up in recent months – and now he has told the football world exactly when he will give a clear indication one way or the other. Platini says he is still weighing up whether he wants to succeed Sepp Blatter in 2015 but will most likely end all the waiting during UEFA’s next executive committee meeting in Dubrovnik on September 19 and 20.
Ever since Blatter indicated that this could be his last term in office, speculation has been rife that Platini would be the logical successor. He has consistently dodged questions but has now set out his thinking in an interview with the French sports newspaper L’Equipe.
“I have to see if I can convince myself, as before I ran for the presidency of UEFA, whether I want to go to FIFA,” he said. “FIFA is not the same world … I have to convince myself whether this is my destiny.”
The 58-year-old Frenchman seems bound to face further questioning over the next 48 hours in Monaco when the draws for the Champions League and Europa League group stages take place, attended by many of the world’s football media.
Platini had a stellar playing career and was three times European Footballer of the Year before going into coaching and then into football politics.
He was a key Blatter ally when the latter won the FIFA presidential vote in 1998 (the year of the French World Cup) and quickly became Blatter’s official adviser before himself going on to hold the highest office possible at UEFA.
Platini, 58, says his decision over whether to run for FIFA president will not depend on whether Blatter, now 77, decides to seek another four years in charge of world football’s governing body. “I don’t know (what Blatter is going to decide),” he said.
Platini said he would “certainly say something” in Dubrovnik. “I will make my decision on my own, without taking Sepp into consideration.”
“People would fight to get the job of president of FIFA. I won’t. I just have to assess if it’s a good thing for football. I’m not interested in the position for the sake of it.”
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