Platini Considers Run for FIFA Presidency

(ATR) Michel Platini will decide whether to stand for the FIFA presidency next month, the UEFA president said today.

In an interview with French daily L'Equipe, Platini said his decision will not be influenced by Sepp Blatter’s recent hints that he will run for a fifth term as head of world football’s governing body.

"I have to convince myself that this is my destiny," he said of the FIFA presidential elections slated for summer 2015.

"He [Blatter] said I was a natural candidate. But there is no ‘deal’ between us, even if it is true that today I have the legitimacy to go to FIFA," Platini added.

After weathering the worst corruption scandal in FIFA’s history, the Swiss seems almost certain to seek another four years at the helm, even though he will by then be 79 years old. The bribery scandals that removed Mohamed Bin Hammam from the FIFA presidential race in 2011 and led to sanctions for nearly a third of the FIFA Executive committee sparked a wave of reforms, which Blatter believes have resurrected his reputation.

In a speech to delegates at the Asian Football Confederation congress in May, Blatter dropped a strong hint that he had no plans to quit FIFA in 2015. "This will be the last term of, not of office, the last term of the reform," Blatter was quoted in a Reuters report.

Platini, 58, has clashed with some of Blatter’s policies, notably the introduction of goal-line technology; he claims UEFA’s additional assistant referees system is adequate to prevent major refereeing mistakes.

Blatter, meanwhile, has raised concerns about the number of World Cup berths (13) that UEFA has for Brazil 2014.

The Frenchman said: "I am thinking about whether it's good or not. I have to persuade myself, like I did before my UEFA presidential bid, that I want to go to FIFA," he said.

"I will definitely say something in Dubrovnik."

The Croatian city is hosting UEFA’s executive committee meeting on 19-20 September.

Written by Mark Bisson

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