Platini loses european court appeal against football ban

Michel Platini, the former UEFA president, has lost his appeal against a four-year ban from football imposed by FIFA's Ethics Committee.

In May 2015, Platini was banned from all football-related activities for four years by the FIFA Ethics Committee, along with Sepp Blatter, the former FIFA president. The ban was imposed due to a payment of 2 million Swiss francs (approximately $2.1 million) made to Platini by Blatter in 2011.

Platini had claimed that the payment was for work he did as a member of FIFA's executive committee from 1998 to 2002, but the Ethics Committee found that the payment was not properly documented and was therefore a conflict of interest.

Platini appealed the ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but on December 8, 2015, the CAS upheld the ban, ruling that Platini had breached FIFA's code of ethics.

Platini then appealed the decision to the Swiss Federal Tribunal, the highest court in Switzerland, but on July 8, 2019, the court rejected his appeal, upholding the four-year ban.

The Swiss Federal Tribunal ruled that the CAS had correctly applied the FIFA code of ethics and that Platini had failed to demonstrate that the payment was not a conflict of interest.

Platini's ban was due to expire in October 2019, but the Swiss Federal Tribunal's decision means that he will remain banned from football until October 2023.

Platini has consistently denied any wrongdoing and has claimed that the ban is politically motivated. He has also accused FIFA and the Ethics Committee of being biased against him.

The ban has prevented Platini from taking up his role as UEFA president, which he was due to assume in 2016. He was replaced by Aleksander Ceferin, who has since led the organization.