Michel Platini will resign as UEFA president after failing to overturn his ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which cut his sanction from six to four years.
Platini said he will now step down from the UEFA position he has held since 2007, which also gave him FIFA vice president status.
The CAS effectively removed Platini from world soccer by ensuring his ban runs beyond his current UEFA mandate, which expires in March 2019.
The court said in a statement that the ban “corresponds to the duration of a presidential term.”
The court ruled that Platini was guilty of conflict of interest for taking a $2 million payment from FIFA approved by Sepp Blatter in 2011.
The money was uncontracted extra salary for working as Blatter’s presidential adviser from 1999-2002, and was largely unknown until it was revealed by Swiss federal prosecutors last September.
The CAS panel “was not convinced by the legitimacy of the 2,000,000 Swiss francs payment, which was only recognized by Mr. Platini and Mr. Blatter,” the statement said.
Platini got the money “more than eight years after the end of his work relations, was not based on any document established at the time of the contractual relations and did not correlate with the alleged unpaid part of his salary,” the court said.
In deciding the ban, the judges said Platini’s attitude in court was a factor in the verdict.
The ruling cited “the absence of any repentance and the impact that this matter has had on FIFA’s reputation.”
FIFA was also criticized by the court for knowing about the irregular payment for four years before the independent ethics committee opened an investigation.
The case ended Platini’s hopes of replacing Blatter at FIFA.
The UEFA executive committee will meet next week in Basel, Switzerland, to discuss replacing Platini. An election is likely in mid-September at meetings of European soccer leaders in Athens, Greece.
Blatter is awaiting a CAS hearing to challenge his six—year ban.
Blatter and Platini were provisionally suspended by the FIFA ethics committee last October, then banned for eight years. FIFA’s appeal panel cut two years off their sanctions in February as reward for their long service to the sport.
| Key dates in the career of former UEFA president Michel Platini, who resigned from the role on Monday after he failed to overturn an international ban | |
| 1972 | Frenchman Platini starts his football career in his home country with Nancy, going on to also play for Saint-Etienne and Juventus. |
| 1984 | The attacking midfielder leads France the European Championship title, and also wins his second of three consecutive Ballon d'Or awards. |
| 1992 | He resigns as coach of the France national team after his side bow out in the first round of the Euros, ending a four-year spell in charge. |
| 1998 | Platini turns himself into an accomplished football administrator and politician. He is joint head of the organising committee for the World Cup held in France and won by the hosts. |
| 2007 | He becomes UEFA president, a role he would keep for more than eight years. |
| 2015 | Platini is given an eight-year ban from all footballing activity by FIFA, later reduced to six years, for a "conflict of interest" over a suspect two million Swiss franc ($2 million) payment authorised by former FIFA leader Sepp Blatter. |
| 2016 | The 60-year-old's appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against his ban only sees the duration cut to four years. Platini announces his resignation from the UEFA presidency on Monday, May 9. |
Factfile on UEFA president Michel Platini, who resigned on Monday after his appeal against a ban from football failed:
