By Andrew Warshaw
June 5 – In a robust and passionate defence of his moral conduct as UEFA president, Michel Platini has denounced what he claims is a deliberate campaign to discredit him and says that despite all the allegations over Qatar staging the 2022 World Cup, the decision was the right one for football.
Platini has already hit back forcefully to media reports casting doubt on his links with disgraced Qatari one-time Asian football chief Mohamed bin Hammam who allegedly paid officials millions of dollars to support Qatar’s successful campaign.
In a rare letter of complaint to the editor of the Daily Telegraph, which suggested he had had a secret meeting with bin Hammam just before the December 2010 ballot for the 2022 World Cup, Platini countered the “unfounded rumours which aim at tarnishing my image.”
Now, in a wide-ranging interview with l’Equipe, he has maintained the same theme.
“I find myself embroiled in a state conspiracy and a plot that has been completely fabricated by I don’t know whom and for I don’t know what…, said Platini.
“I woke up in the morning and read Platini corrupt?” in all the newspapers, news agency feeds and blogs. Honestly, that hurts.
” I’m transparent, I am the only one who revealed who I voted for (Qatar) and did so by my own initiative, and now I find myself suspected of being corrupt. “
“Let’s not mess around. I saw this colleague (bin Hammam) 10,000 times in 15 years… We were both members of the FIFA Executive Committee, we stayed in the same hotel all the time. Why would I have a secret meeting with him? I realise that, behind it all, there is someone, something, people who are organising all this… I can sense it.”
Platini conceded that if FIFA ethics committee prosecutor Michael Garcia discovers concrete evidence of corruption by Qatar in the buildup to the ballot, then a revote would be necessary. “If instances of corruption are proved, there will need to be a new vote and sanctions,” he said.
But he once again justified his decision to support Qatar over favourites the United States, Australia, Japan and South Korea, saying the Gulf nation “was the right choice for FIFA and for world football”.
“For a year now, everything is being done to discredit me, regardless of what I do. It is easy to feed people who spend their time denigrating you on social networks. There are firms that specialize in this. It’s not hard, you simply have to pay.”
Asked who was behind the moves, he gave no names but plenty of clues, hinting there was a conspiracy, possibly orchestrated from within FIFA, by those opposed to Qatar.
“I don’t have any proof whatsoever. Especially as I don’t play at that level. I’m not corrupt, my aim is not to hurt people. I don’t know who is behind it all. But I think there are lots of interests at stake, for people at FIFA … and for people who are hoping to be there one day. And no doubt there are also interests of some parties who sell and buy TV rights who want to review the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar. I seem to be the person who is upsetting them. It’s getting a bit much.”
Asked to respond to persistent claims that he personally tried to promote Qatar’s interests, Platini snapped back: “Why would I have done that? Give me one good reason. I voted for Qatar in order to give the Arab world something they have been wanting for a very long time.”
“The Gulf is a wonderful place to hold the World Cup and it was about promoting the development of football. We’ve already been to the United States, as well as Korea, and Japan… It was a new approach. Full stop. That’s the only reason. Nobody told me who to vote for. I have always said that.”
“Lots of people asked to meet me before the vote. Most of the heads of state of the bidding countries contacted me, but I refused to see them. I did it to avoid wasting their time and because I have always been free to make my own choices.”
Platini said, however, that none of this will influence his decision on whether to challenge Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency, revealing that he make a decision one way or the other in August whether to run in the May 2015 election.
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