Platini arrested over 2022 World cup to Qatar

[Abbotsbury White]

Not a total surprise but this really has stunk since the announcement was made-
How a country that is totally unsuitable to host a world cup, has no heritage of football, did not have sufficient grounds to host the event, and an appalling human rights problem got the world cup absolute joke-
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/11743927/michel-platini-arrested-over-awarding-of-world-cup-2022-to-qatar

[Mince n Tatties]

Great player but a horrible bloke.😠

[BigbadBillyMcKinley]

Wonder how many months he'll be banned for.
He's already banned for 4 years from football activities, he'll get some added to it and will be back in the game in no time.

[Ruislip Ray]

Should be in prison,corrupt 100%.

[HobGoblin]

Send him down imo, corruption abounds in world football.

[Woolly Mammoth]

He will have to enlist in the Foreign Legion or it's an empty room a bottle of Whiskey and a loaded revolver, and he will deserve it.

[bobbo]

How a country that is totally unsuitable to host a world cup, has no heritage of football, did not have sufficient grounds to host the event, and an appalling human rights problem got the world cup absolute joke-
https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/11743927/michel-platini-arrested-over-awarding-of-world-cup-2022-to-qatar

Think MONEY

[Stoneleigh Loyalist]

The problem is that it will probably make no difference. Qatar will still get the World Cup and all of Platini's cronies will be there up the front.

[Burt]

Apparently whilst he is in custody, he has not been arrested...?

From the Beeb:

Michel Platini questioned over awarding of World Cup to Qatar

Former Uefa president Michel Platini is being questioned by French anti-corruption investigators over the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.

Platini, 63, was head of European football's governing body until being banned in 2015 for ethics breaches.

The former France midfielder and three-time Ballon d'Or winner has always denied any wrongdoing.

Qatar beat bids from USA, Australia, South Korea and Japan in 2010.

Platini is in custody and being questioned in Nanterre, a suburb in western Paris.

Officials have been investigating alleged corruption connected to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups for the past two years and were reported to have interviewed Sepp Blatter, the former president of world governing body Fifa, in 2017.

In a statement, Platini's lawyers reiterated he had not been arrested and has "expressed himself serenely and precisely, answering all the questions, including those on the conditions for the awarding of Euro 2016, and has provided useful explanations".

They added: "He has nothing to do with this event which doesn't concern him at all. He is absolutely confident about what's next."

Fifa said it is aware of Platini's questioning, but added that it is "not in a position to comment further."

Platini was banned over a 2m Swiss francs (£1.3m) "disloyal payment" from Blatter, who was also banned from football for his part in the matter. Blatter has also always denied any wrongdoing.

Platini's eight-year ban was later reduced to four on appeal and will expire in October 2019.

Qatar's bid team has been previously accused of corruption, but was cleared following a two-year Fifa inquiry.

Analysis
BBC sports editor Dan Roan

This is the result of two years of work by French investigators from the country's serious financial crime unit, who - just like their counterparts in the US and Switzerland - have been looking into allegations of corruption connected to Fifa's shock decision to award Qatar the World Cup in 2022.

Given that Blatter has been interviewed as part of the same case, it is no surprise that Platini is also now facing questions.

It is understood these will focus on a lunch Platini attended in Paris just days before that hugely controversial vote in 2010, with the then French president Nicolas Sarkozy at his official residence and the Qatari head of state.

It has long been suspected that the prospect of important bilateral trade deals between the two nations, and the subsequent Qatari takeover of Paris St-Germain may have been used as leverage to get Sarkozy's support.

Platini has always denied that was why he changed his mind to vote for Qatar (rather than the US).

Given how much time has now passed since the 2010 vote, and how much has changed at Fifa, there seems no real prospect that this latest development could affect Qatar's status as hosts, even if Platini is charged.

Fifa's own 2014 internal investigation effectively cleared Qatar of corruption, and stripping it of the event at this stage could leave it open to legal action.

But yet again it does serve as a reminder of the scandal and suspicion that surrounds the saga of how Qatar won the right to stage the event.

Back in 2015, when still one of the sport's most powerful figures, Platini told me he had "no regrets" about voting for Qatar, despite the allegations of corruption and human rights abuses directed against the country, and the havoc a winter tournament would play with the European game he represented at the time.

He may feel differently now.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48673461

[H4usuallysitting]

I can't believe there's any corruption within such an honourable bunch of clowns - they really are pathetic specimens

[Twig]

Seriously, those of you suggesting that any FIFA (or indeed UEFfA) officials are in any way corrupt should be ashamed. Such a fine, principled, upstanding group of gentlemen.  NOT

[Woolly Mammoth]

That's just the tip of the iceberg  !!

[ron]

That's just the tip of the iceberg  !!

Talking of icebergs, I believe Qatar won the bid for the World Cup by convincing the uncorruptible men of FIFA that the country is a bit better suited to a football tournament than is Antarctica.....

[toshes mate]

Apparently whilst he is in custody, he has not been arrested...?

I struggled with that notion too.  It seems Platini feels he has no case to answer and so, perhaps, the response to him was come quietly or we will arrest you.  He was clearly interviewed under caution and with his lawyers present, and had been previously warned he was on the original list the investigators drew up for their interview rounds.

My take is that without a guaranteed assurance that all football authorities are above even suspicion of impropriety then the rot will continue to deprive football followers of true competition at any level.  There is just too much temptation for these people and not enough true justice when they are found guilty of wrongdoing.   

[BigbadBillyMcKinley]

He's was the french call "les incompetent".