Disgraced former UEFA president Michel Platini has labelled the judges who banned him from office as “rubbish” and claims he will be “proved right”.
The former France and Juventus legend had his initial eight-year FIFA ban, for receiving an illegal payment of 2.0 million Swiss francs (1.8 million euros, USD 2 million) from former FIFA chief Sepp Blatter, reduced by two years by judges from the European Court of Human Rights in January.
But although it was reduced again by two years to four years following an appeal to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the 62-year-old maintains the ruling — which prevents him from working in football until October 2019 — remains unfair.
“I can’t accept losing when I’ve done nothing wrong. They’ve stopped me working in football for four years! Who are these clowns who’ve stopped me?” said Platini.
“The rubbish judges from FIFA and CAS are not real judges.”
Platini’s suspension scuppered his plans to succeed Blatter as head of FIFA, which is now run by former UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino.