Michel Platini

This article is about the French soccer player. For the Brazilian soccer player of the same name, see Michel Mesquita .

Michel Platini
Michel Platini in 2010
Personnel
birthday	June 21, 1955
place of birth	Jœuf ,  France
size	178 cm
position	midfield player
Juniors
Years	station
1966-1972	AS Joeuf
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1972-1979	AS Nancy	175 (98)
1979-1982	AS Saint-Etienne	104 (58)
1982-1987	Juventus Turin	147 (68)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1975-1976	France U-21	3 0(0)
1975-1976	France Olympia	7 0(4)
1976-1987	France	72 (41)
1988	Kuwait	1 0(0)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
1988-1992	France
1 Only league games are given.

Michel François Platini (* 21st June 1955 in Jœuf , France ) is a former French football player , coach and - functionary .

In the 1980s, Platini was considered one of the best footballers in the world, was voted Europe's Footballer of the Year three times (1983, 1984, 1985), and came seventh in the FIFA election for the best footballer of the century. The "Maestro of French football" is still one of the country's greatest sporting idols and, alongside Raymond Kopa and Zinédine Zidane, is considered the best player that France has produced.

As a coach, he was in charge of the French national team from 1988 to 1992.

Michel Platini has been President of UEFA since 2007 . On December 21, 2015, the ethics committee of the world football association FIFA announced that he and FIFA President Sepp Blatter would be banned for eight years and therefore not be allowed to work in the football field. The ban was reduced to six years by a FIFA appeals court on February 24, 2016; the CAS Sports Court reduced it by a further two years to four years on May 9, 2016. Thereupon, Platini announced his immediate resignation from the office of UEFA President.

youth

Platini's father Aldo, a son of Italian immigrants, was the sporting director of the French first division club AS Nancy for a long time and promoted his son Michel intensively. At the age of ten, Michel joined the club in his native Jœuf, where his talent quickly crystallized. As a youth player, he had offers from FC Metz , but they refused an obligation, since an examination judged his physical condition to be too weak; you didn't think he could make it to the professional. One story goes that he did a trial session at 1. FC Saarbrücken , but was rejected by their then coach Slobodan Čendić because he was too thin. This story was later referred to as a "legend" by former professionals who were active in Saarbrücken at the time. It was completely different. They played a test match at AS Nancy and the Saarlanders noticed Platini - also because he scored several goals in that game. Platini's father was asked, but he immediately "blocked" a conversation about it. The alleged "trial training" at 1. FC Saarbrücken never happened. In 1972 he got a chance from AS Nancy, whose managers brought the 17-year-old into the reserve team, where he could quickly draw attention to himself.

Career

Club career

On May 3, 1973 he made his Division 1 debut against Nîmes. In 1974 Platini broke his left arm and could not stand by his team in the relegation battle, which in the end had to go to the second division. Nancy succeeded in the immediate promotion and Platini had become the most important player of the team (17 goals). His specialties included free kicks , which he practiced almost every day in extra shifts after training (the reigning champion Saint-Étienne was defeated in the cup competition with two directly converted free-kick goals). In 1976 he signed his first professional contract (over two years) and played a great season, which is why he was also voted France's Footballer of the Year 1976. In his early twenties, Platini was the great hope of French football, which was in a great crisis. Platini became the focal point of the team from Lorraine and was considered the upcoming superstar of France. The team finished with the fourth place until today best finish in the first division (1977 and 25 Platini goals in the league) and in the Cup final in 1978 was OGC Nice by a Platini goal with 1: 0 defeated. The first major title in the club's history was won. Captain Platini received the trophy from President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing . In the same year, Platini suffered a complicated fracture of the shin (he broke his leg five times and his arm twice in his career). After differences with his club, he decided to leave Nancy in 1979. Inter Milan , Paris Saint-Germain and AS Saint-Étienne vied for the playmaker who eventually chose Saint-Étienne.

Platini moved to AS Saint-Étienne and signed a three-year contract. His time in Saint-Etienne was changeable. France's top club wanted to build on international success in the 1970s as one of the first in the final European Cup of Champions the FC Bayern Munich defeated. With Platini, similar successes should now come again. In 1981 he was French champion with Saint-Étienne , but failed twice in the final of the Cup (1981 at SC Bastia , 1982 at Paris Saint-Germain ). The 1982 final would be his last game for a French club. Platini was considered one of the best playmakers in the world (next to Zico and Maradona ), but was also very dangerous; Direct free kicks were one of his strengths.

In 1982 he moved to the Italian Serie A at Juventus Turin , whose players formed the core of the Italian world championship team from 1982 ( Dino Zoff , Gaetano Scirea , Antonio Cabrini , Claudio Gentile , Marco Tardelli ). The time in Turin was to be the most successful in the Frenchman's career, who won almost every title that could be won here and matured into a world-class player. But at the beginning his time in Italy was marked by teething problems, because due to his high annual salary of the equivalent of 950,000  DM (2020: approx. 934,000 euros ) he was a popular target of the media and this also led to jealousy within the team. In the winter of his first season, he even wanted to leave Juventus again. But Platini stayed and, together with Zbigniew Boniek, implemented a change of tactics and the success proved him right: he won the Coppa Italia with Juve and was in the final of the European Cup, in which they had to admit defeat to Hamburger SV . Platini also played a strong second half personally and secured the top scorer ( Capocannoniere ) of Serie A with 16 goals in the first year .

Juventus Turin subsequently became one of the strongest club teams in the world, and their coach Giovanni Trapattoni made Platini the control center in midfield, but also executor in the team and provided him with a good partner in Boniek. 1984 Turin Meister ( Scudetto ), defeating the final of the European Cup Winners the FC Porto with 2: 1. Platini won the top scorer again (20 goals) and was voted Europe's Footballer of the Year three times in a row (1983, 1984, 1985), which underscored his status as a superstar. The successes with the club continued, and in 1985 Juventus Turin faced Liverpool FC in the final of the European Cup; Platini scored the goal for a 1-0 victory and was the top scorer of the tournament with seven goals. However, this success was overshadowed by serious rioting by the audience (39 dead, approx. 400 injured) ( Heysel disaster ). Finally, the World Cup was also won (victory over Argentinos Juniors ). In 1986 he won his second championship with Juventus , which was his last title, and ended his career in the summer of 1987 at the age of 31.

National team career

In the summer of 1976 Platini played in his country's Olympic selection at the Olympic Games in Montreal and scored three goals in the course of the tournament. In March he completed his first international match for the " Equipe Tricolore ". For the first time he caused international sensation on November 16, 1977, when he excelled as a playmaker in the game against Bulgaria and scored a goal with a 25-meter shot. After this 3-1 victory, France qualified for a World Cup for the first time in twelve years . In the same year, Platini took third place in the vote for European Footballer of the Year . Platini should lead his country out of the "valley of tears" and make France a great football power again.

At the 1978 World Cup in Argentina , the hopes of French football fans rested on Platini's shoulders. After the opening defeat against Italy (1: 2), Platini showed a strong game against hosts Argentina and scored 1: 1, but the South Americans won 2: 1 in the end. This means that France was eliminated in the preliminary round at its first World Cup participation since 1966 .

After the tournament, Platini became the new captain and henceforth also the decisive player in the national team and led his home country to Spain for the 1982 World Cup . After a mediocre preliminary round (a Platini goal in a 4-1 win over Kuwait ), France was in top form and was soon one of the secret favorites for the title. France's midfield with Platini, Alain Giresse and Jean Tigana shone and France was in the semi-finals, in which Germany had to admit defeat on penalties (“ Night of Seville ”). France finished fourth.

Two years later, Platini would dominate the 1984 European Championship in his own country like no other. Michel Platini delighted not only his compatriots but all of Europe during the European Championship. With the 1-1 equalizer in the group game against Yugoslavia, he scored his 31st international goal, replacing Just Fontaine as the record scorer and his 2-1 flying header was voted goal of the month by the spectators of the sports show . Tactically an all-rounder, technically perfect - this is how Platini led his team to the title. And he also demonstrated a special skill by scoring nine of the 14 French goals (this European Championship goal record was equalized in 2016 by the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo , who, however, needed four finals for it). Platini was supported by a perfect environment: Tigana, Fernandez and Giresse around him in midfield were not only great artists themselves, they also did a lot of leg work for their boss. Platini was in the shape of his life and unstoppable; in the final against Spain he scored a free-kick goal and put France on the road to victory as they won their first title.

The beginning of the 1980s was one of the most successful times for the French national team, which was among the world's best teams. This wedding was not least due to the outstanding midfield formation around Platini, Alain Giresse , Jean Tigana and Luis Fernández , known as the “magic square” and with Michel Hidalgo they had a football expert as their coach .

In 1986 in Mexico , Platini took part in his third and final world championship, the last chance for him to win the title. The "Maestro" started the tournament slightly beaten. Platini scored two important goals: in the round of 16 to 1-0 against Italy (final score 2-0) and also to equalize against Brazil in their "game of the century" (4-3 win on penalties) and France reached the semi-finals, in which one again met Germany. But the revenge did not succeed and one was defeated again by the neighboring country, which moved into the final. In the game for third place, a B-Elf (without Platini) defeated Belgium and came in third.

In 1987 he announced his retirement from football and on April 29, 1987 he completed his last international match against Iceland . He had scored 41 times in 72 international matches, making him the top scorer in France until 2007, before Thierry Henry outbid this mark .

On November 27, 1988, Platini, who had already ended his active career the previous year and had coached the French national team since the beginning of the month, played at the Emir's invitation for a full 21 minutes for the selection of Kuwait in a friendly against the Soviet Union.

Coaching career

Contrary to his earlier statement that he would never become a coach, the 33-year-old was in charge of the French national team as team boss from October 1988. Although he could not prevent the team from failing in qualifying for the 1990 World Cup , he played 19 games without defeat. Despite this record, France was eliminated from the European Championships in Sweden in 1992 in the preliminary round; Platini then resigned.

Functionary career

From 1993 to 1998 Platini was Vice President of the Organizing Committee of the 1998 World Cup in France . In 1998 he supported Sepp Blatter in his election as FIFA President and was then his advisor until 2002. Since 2002 he has been a member of the FIFA Executive Committee .

Michel Platini, Rafał Dutkiewicz , Grzegorz Lato ( Wroclaw , 2009)

On January 26, 2007, Michel Platini was elected President of the European Football Association UEFA in a vote against Lennart Johansson . He owes his election above all to the smaller football associations, which he promised more influence in the election campaign. For example, Platini was able to ensure that smaller associations get more permanent starting places in the Champions League . He also promoted the idea of ​​holding the European Championship finals with 24 instead of 16 participants.

In March 2011, the UEFA Congress confirmed him as association president for another four years.

In July 2015, Platini announced that he would run for FIFA President. A few hours before his suspension by the FIFA Ethics Committee on October 8, Platini submitted the supportive votes necessary for the candidacy.

On May 9, 2016, Platini announced his resignation from the office of UEFA President. The International Court of Justice for Sports had previously confirmed the ban imposed on the French by the FIFA Ethics Committee, but reduced it from six to four years.

criticism

There were critical voices in Platini's election as UEFA President, who believed that Platini owed his election mainly to associations from Eastern Europe, particularly officials from Poland and Ukraine; a circumstance that gives rise to speculation because a few weeks after Platini's election, the 2012 European Championship was awarded to outsiders Poland and Ukraine.

UEFA and Platini as its president were also criticized from various quarters (including Philipp Lahm , Oliver Bierhoff and Markus Löning ) for not taking a clear enough position on the human rights situation in the European Championship host country Ukraine.

The role Platini played in the controversial awarding of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups also caused a stir : As a European representative in FIFA, Platini voted to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar , even if he advocated it shortly afterwards that the tournament will be held in winter due to the temperatures that prevail in Qatar in summer. A few weeks after the 2022 World Cup was awarded, Platini's son Laurent became the European head of the Qatar Sport Investments group , which raised suspicions of corruption . He is also said to have received a Picasso painting from Russian officials.

In April 2014, after journalistic research, another conflict of interest became public, which reinforced the suspicion of nepotism : Under Platini's chairmanship, UEFA had received several orders for the production of pieces of music - such as the official anthem of the UEFA Europa League  - for Platini's son-in-law since October 2008 Yohann Zveig, who was later hired by the German Football Association , among others .

As part of the World Cup in Brazil , Platini, like other officials, accepted a watch worth around 25,000 dollars as a gift from the Brazilian Association. When this became widely publicized, Platini refused to return the watch, justifying this with his polite upbringing. He announced that he would make a charitable donation of the same value. After FIFA threatened to suspend those officials who would not return the watches, he returned the watch to a FIFA employee.

“Platini is more attractive than Blatter , younger. He's a football idol. Otherwise it is cut from the same cloth and belongs to the Blatter system. "

- Mark Pieth

On September 25, 2015, Sepp Blatter was questioned as a suspect by the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office . It involved, among other things, a payment of two million Swiss francs to Michel Platini in February 2011 for his services between January 1999 and June 2002. On September 28, Platini declared that he had provided this income to the authorities in full and as required by law , would have reported. He stated that after partial amounts had previously been paid, a final payment had been made in 2011. He was not accused of any misconduct, said Platini, but he wanted to work with the FIFA ethics committee to clarify the matter.

On October 8, 2015, FIFA banned him from all activities related to football for 90 days because the Swiss Federal Prosecutor's Office was investigating corruption against him and Sepp Blatter . Platini had previously commented on rumors of the suspension, which had already leaked the day before, in the following words, when casting his support for the FIFA presidential candidacy.

"This deliberate leak, which is sneaky and unacceptable, is an attempt to damage my reputation."

Platini justified the payment with a " gentlemen's agreement " between himself and Blatter. He had a contract with FIFA as a Blatters advisor from 1998 to 2002, for which he received a salary of 1.05 million Swiss francs. The remaining payments of 500,000 Swiss francs annually over four years are said to have been verbally agreed with Blatter. Blatter confirmed this "gentleman's agreement" in an interview with Radio Rottu Oberwallis .

In November 2015, the FIFA Appeals Committee decided to reject Platini's objection to his suspension, and Platini announced that it would appeal against this decision to the International Court of Justice for Sports (CAS). The ethics committee also presented its final report, which announced:

“To decide within a reasonable period of time whether a formal legal procedure will be initiated against Joseph S. Blatter and Michel Platini”.

According to Platini's lawyer, the ethics committee opened formal proceedings against Michel Platini on November 23, 2015, involving a lifelong ban on all football activities. The process is based on the assumption that Platini supported Blatters in his election as FIFA President in 2011 in return for the payment. Blatter is said to have assured Platini that this would be his last term in office. This opened up a chance for Platini to be elected president in 2015, which would have been much more difficult if Blatter's challenger at the time, Mohamed bin Hammam, had been successful. Platini's lawyer called the claim excessive and the proceedings a scandal.

On December 11, 2015, the CAS decided to dismiss Platini's action against his suspension by FIFA for 90 days, but at the same time an extension of this provisional suspension was declared inadmissible as a decision had been announced before Christmas. On December 21, 2015, the ethics committee suspended Platini for eight years and fined him 80,000 Swiss francs. The commission ruled that Blatter's payment to Platini was not corruption, but lacked a legal basis and violated the ethics committee's principles regarding the acceptance and granting of gifts and other benefits. A conflict of interest arose, the commission has now decided, in which Platini breached his duty of loyalty to FIFA. The commission stated that Platini had shown a lack of absolutely credible behavior with integrity and that he had shown a lack of awareness of his duties and the duties and tasks associated with them. Platini did not appear for an ethics committee hearing on December 18, 2015, during which his lawyers had requested an acquittal.

On January 7, 2016, Platini stated that he would no longer run for the office of FIFA President in the February 26, 2016 election. He complained that he had no way of campaigning like the other candidates because his efforts to have the ban lifted by the International Court of Sports were taking more time than he had. He wanted to concentrate fully on his defense against the allegations made against him, he said.

Due to suspicion of "active and passive corruption" in connection with the award of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, Platini was taken into police custody and interrogated in France on June 18, 2019, but was released the following night.

Worth mentioning

Platini handed over at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games in Albertville in 1992 Olympic flame to the then eight-year-old alpine skiing -Nachwuchsfahrer François-Cyrille Grange , who then lit the Olympic flame in the stadium.

In 2008, Platini was awarded the Great Silver Medal of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria for his services to the host country Austria at the 2008 European Football Championship .

successes

In the club

• French cup winner : 1977/78
• French champion : 1980/81
• Italian cup winner : 1982/83
• Italian champion : 1983/84 , 1985/86
• European Cup Winner : 1983/84
• European Supercup : 1984
• European Champion's Cup : 1984/85
• World Cup Winner : 1985

In the national team

• World Cup fourth : 1982
• European Champion : 1984
• World Cup third: 1986

Awards

• Europe's Sportsman of the Year (UEPS) : 1984
• Top scorer of the 1985/86 European Cup (together with Torbjörn Nilsson , IFK Göteborg )
• France's Sportsman of the Year (“ Champion des champions ”): 1977, 1984
• Europe's footballer of the year : 1983, 1984, 1985
• Europe's footballers of the last three decades ( Súper Ballón d'Or ): 3rd place in 1989
• France's Footballer of the Year : 1976, 1977
• Italy's Footballer of the Year : 1984
• Italian top scorer : 1983 (16 goals), 1984 (20 goals), 1985 (18 goals)
• European Championship top scorer: 1984 (9 goals)
• FIFA 100 (one of the 125 best football players still alive)
• In 1999, the International Federation of Football History & Statistics selected the 10 best world footballers of the century . Michel Platini came in 7th in this election, ahead of Garrincha , Eusébio and Bobby Charlton .
• Record scorer in European Championship history (9 goals)

Web links

Commons : Michel Platini  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• All international matches and goals
• Michel Platini on the UEFA website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Who needs friendly matches? , jungle-world.com, October 24, 2013
2. ↑ Ethics committee takes action: Fifa committee blocks Blatter and Platini. In: n-tv.de. Retrieved October 14, 2015 . 
3. ↑ Dubious payment: Fifa reduces Blatter and Platini's bans to six years. Spiegel online, February 24, 2016, accessed February 24, 2016 . 
4. ↑ sportschau.de: Goal of the Month June 1984
5. ↑ Jens Weinreich: The usual suspects In: berliner-zeitung.de, January 20, 2007
6. ^ Presidential candidate Michel Platini. In: mz-web.de
7. ^ President Platini re-elected for four years. In: Spiegel Online. March 22, 2011, accessed December 4, 2014 . 
8. ↑ Platini is running for FIFA President sport1.de July 29, 2015
9. ↑ ^{a b} Blatter and Platini suspended. Tagesschau.de, October 8, 2015, archived from the original on October 9, 2015 ; accessed on October 8, 2015 . 
10. ↑ Michel Platini resigns as Uefa President zeit.de May 9, 2016
11. ↑ CAS confirms ban: Michel Platini resigns as UEFA President at sportschau.de, May 9, 2016 (accessed on May 10, 2016).
12. ↑ ^{a b} Claudio Catuogno, Thomas Kistner: Whimsical proposals by UEFA boss Platini - With low cost throughout Europe. In: sueddeutsche.de. July 2, 2012, accessed December 4, 2014 . 
13. ↑ The man who brought the EM to the Ukraine. In: Spiegel Online. May 8, 2012, accessed December 4, 2014 . 
14. ↑ Philipp Streit with Platini: Lahm receives support from politics ( Memento from January 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) - sportal.de
15. ↑ DFB team manager Bierhoff criticizes Platini. In: welt.de. June 12, 2012, accessed December 4, 2014 . 
16. ↑ Jens Weinreich: The two faces of the bon vivant. In: Spiegel Online. June 4, 2012, accessed December 4, 2014 . 
17. ↑ Platinum for Platini: Uefa is the winner of the European Championship = Ingmar Höhmann. In: handelsblatt.com. June 8, 2012, accessed December 4, 2014 . 
18. ↑ A Picasso for Platini? In: tagesspiegel.de, November 30, 2014.
19. ↑ Jens Weinreich : How Platini provides his son-in-law with jobs: swinging family ties. In: 11 Freunde from April 4, 2014, accessed on April 11, 2014
20. ↑ Tim Röhn: Platini returns a $ 25,000 watch. In: welt.de, October 6, 2014.
21. ↑ Mark Pieth in an interview: Fifa debate: “World problems are gathering there” , Peter B. Birrer, NZZ June 6, 2015
22. ↑ The unmasking. nzz.ch, September 25, 2015, accessed on September 25, 2015 . 
23. ↑ Sepp Blatter wants to remain FIFA President. Süddeutsche Zeitung, September 28, 2015, accessed on September 29, 2015 . 
24. ↑ Corruption scandal: Fifa suspends Blatter and Platini for 90 days spiegel.de, October 8, 2015
25. ↑ David Conn Fifa's £ 1.35m payment to Michel Platini: there was no written contract in: The Guardian, October 11, 2015, accessed October 17, 2015
26. ↑ David Conn Sepp Blatter: £ 1.35m paid to Michel Platini a 'gentlemen's agreement' in: The Guardian, October 16, 2015, accessed October 17, 2015
27. ↑ Penalties for Blatter and Platini requested from: Tagesschau.de November 21, 2015, accessed on November 21, 2015
28. ↑ David Conn: Michel Platini offered Sepp Blatter support after his £ 1.35m Fifa payment in: The Guardian, October 14, 2015, accessed on October 25, 2015
29. ↑ Fifa seeking life ban against Uefa president Michel Platini, says lawyer in: The Guardian, November 24, 2015, accessed November 25, 2015
30. ↑ UEFA boss Platini remains suspended on: Tagesschau.de, December 11, 2015, accessed on December 11, 2015
31. ^ Owen Gibson Michel Platini loses Cas appeal against 90-day suspension from Fifa in: The Guardian December 11, 2015, accessed on December 11, 2015
32. ↑ Fifa bans Blatter and Platini for eight years. Spiegel online from December 21, 2015
33. ↑ Ban for Blatter and Platini: The wording of the FIFA ruling on Spiegel online, December 21, 2015, accessed on December 21, 2015
34. ↑ Blatter wants to "fight for justice" on: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, December 21, 2015, accessed on December 21, 2015
35. ↑ Michel Platini withdraws FIFA candidacy : Tagesschau.de January 7, 2016, accessed on January 8, 2016
36. ↑ http://www.taz.de/Frueherer-Uefa-Praesident-festhaben/!5604238/
37. ↑ Because of the award of the World Cup to Qatar - Platini in police custody , Spiegel Online, June 18, 2019
38. ↑ French police release Platini from custody. Spiegel Online, June 19, 12019, accessed on the same day.
39. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)
40. ↑ The top scorer in European Championship history , FUSSBALL-EM-total, July 2012