AP, Nyon :
Four years after a ban for financial wrongdoing thwarted his chances of becoming FIFA president, Michel Platini is free to work in soccer again on Tuesday.
However, the former UEFA president – who was once seen as the heir apparent to FIFA’s Sepp Blatter – said Monday he is still unsure where and when he will return to the game that has continued to dominate his life even after his stellar playing career with France.
“I have some idea but it’s difficult to speak today,” Platini told The Associated Press in an interview about his future plans, hours before the ban was set to expire.
And any comeback into a senior role would likely force him to first pay FIFA a fine of 60,000 Swiss francs ($60,300) that is three years overdue. Platini is still challenging that fine in court and continues to dispute the allegations that led to his four-year ban from all football activities. The charges of receiving an irregular payment and wrongful pension entitlement approved by Blatter derailed Platini’s hopes of succeeding his former mentor as the head of global soccer.
