Michel Platini: French football's playmaker turned politician

With his deft feet, immense footballing brain and a developed nose for goal, Michel Platini was established as one of the world's best by the early 1980s, at the latest. After stints with Nancy and St. Etienne in Ligue 1, he moved to Juventus in 1982 and became a genuine global star. Playing for "the Old Lady," he won the league title twice and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1984.

Platini also reveled in international glory. As the right hand to his coach Michel Hidalgo, he orchestrated play for France and led them to victory on home soil in the 1984 European Championships. In the final against Spain, Platini scored the game's only goal with a free kick. La Grande Nation celebrated its newest hero, who would later be crowned European sportsman of the year.

A little like Franz Beckenbauer, Platini took charge of the national team as a coach soon after the end of his playing career. He was just 33. But he struggled to emulate his success on pitch from the sidelines. He failed to qualify for the 1990 World Cup. After that, his France team went on to record 19 unbeaten games, only to drop out early at the 1992 European Championships. Platini then quit.

A year later, Platini moved on to his next grand task, organizing the 1998 World Cup in France. Then 38, this marked the beginning of a meteoric rise to the top as a football functionary. The party proved a success, as hosts France won fueled by their next inspired number 10: Zinedine Zidane. Meanwhile, Platini struck a key alliance with Sepp Blatter in his 1998 bid to become FIFA president.

By 2007, Platini hit the big time in European functionary terms. In January, he won the vote to become UEFA president, dethroning incumbent Lennart Johansson. Platini won his core support from smaller, primarily eastern European federations. He went on to secure automatic Champions League berths for "smaller" teams, also expanding the European Championship — from 16 to 24 participating countries.

Platini later announced his intent to succeed Sepp Blatter as the president of FIFA. But this handover from patron to protege never came to pass. Both Platini and Blatter were suspended from FIFA ahead of the unscheduled 2016 vote. The reason? An ominous payment of €1.8 million from Blatter to Platini, nominally for consultancy work. Instead of Platini, Gianni Infantino took the reins of FIFA.

Platini fights the allegations of corruption but with limited success. Even his appeal at the Court of Arbitration of Sport is unsuccessful. FIFA's ethics commission banned Platini from the group for eight years in December of 2015. The court found that while Blatter's payment to Platini could not be called corruption, it did also lack a legal basis. His suspension was later reduced to four years.

Platini's ban from all football activities expires later this year. But now he has been questioned in connection with Qatar winning hosting rights for the 2022 World Cup. Does that mark the end for his FIFA career? His lawyer certainly doesn't see it that way: "He has done absolutely nothing wrong and affirms that he is totally unrelated to the facts [of the case], which are unknown to him."