The China Mail - Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini: A long fall from grace

AFP Sport looks back at the colourful careers of both men.

- Money made Blatter's World Cup go round -

Blatter, the supreme powerbroker of FIFA, never failed to stir debate.

Forced to resign in 2015 days after winning a fifth presidential term, he has spent the years since fighting a seemingly endless series of accusations while growing increasingly physically frail.

In 2016, just about to turn 80, he was banned by FIFA from all football activity for six years over the payment to his former ally Platini. His career was over.

Blatter inherited the FIFA presidency from his scandal-tainted mentor Joao Havelange in 1998 and proved a master at keeping a majority of members loyal as he built the organisation into a money machine.

Then Swiss police marched into a Zurich hotel in May 2015 and arrested, on US warrants, seven officials attending a FIFA congress and presidential election.

The rest of the FIFA delegates carried on as usual and two days later elected Blatter for a fifth term. But, seemingly surprised by the cynical reaction as the scandal continued to unfold, Blatter announced four days later that he would resign.

By then he was under investigation himself, with Switzerland's Office of the Attorney General opening the criminal proceedings. One line of attack, into the "disloyal payment" of two million Swiss francs to Platini,reached a conclusion on Friday.

Blatter joined FIFA in 1975 from a Swiss watchmaker.

At the time, the governing body of world football had barely 10 employees. By 2015 it had 1,400 staff and was sitting on a cash mountain of about $1.5 billion. It had made about $5.7 billion in the four years between the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.

From that revenue, hundreds of millions of dollars were distributed to national federations and in development grants, though critics questioned the choice of recipients and the oversight of how they spent the money.

Then the 2009 votes to award the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar came under suspicion, and things began to unravel.

- Platini had the world at his feet -

Platini illuminated the sport with his balletic and intelligent play and seemed destined for the very top after moving into football administration.

He captained France to their first major international trophy and led Juventus to the European Cup. He won the Ballon d'Or three years running and, unusually for a midfielder, was top scorer in Serie A three times and in the 1984 European Championship.

A charismatic star when sponsors were being drawn to the game and player wages were beginning to soar, he boasted that he was "the first in France to earn a lot of money playing football".

But money caused him problems as a player too.

After he left Saint-Etienne, the club were investigated for running a slush fund to dodge taxes on player salaries. In 1990 he received a four-month suspended sentence and was fined 300,000 francs for tax evasion.

Platini quit playing in May 1987 just before turning 32.

After a spell as coach of France he moved into administration and became co-organiser of the 1998 World Cup in his home country.

In 2007, he became the first former footballer elected president of UEFA. World football seemed again to be at his elegant feet, but then he fell out with his former mentor Blatter, who occupied the post Platini desired.

One issue was the choice of host for the 2022 World Cup.

Blatter recognised picking Qatar over the United States could prove costly.

Platini promised to vote for the United States but changed his mind after a lunch at the Elysee Palace with Qatari bid leaders, hosted by then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy, shortly before the vote in November 2010.

When Blatter finally announced his resignation, Platini declared himself a candidate. But Blatter's fall dragged the Frenchman down too.

S.Wilson--ThChM