With Platini suspended by Fifa’s ethics committee and under pressure to explain why he received a £1.3m payment from Sepp Blatter in February 2011, the members of Uefa’s executive committee are understood to be conflicted over the way forward.
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Johansson said the existence of the 2million Swiss franc payment was not declared by Blatter to FIFA’s executive committee in 1999, when it was said to have been agreed, and nor was it declared to UEFA’s executive committee when Platini received the money 12 years later.
They both deny any wrongdoing and Platini maintains he will still stand for election.
As such, senior figures within Uefa are believed to have sounded out the possibility of Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa standing for the presidency, believing he could provide clean hands and command support from Asia, Europe and South America.
Michel Platini’s future in football will become clearer on Thursday when UEFA members meet in Switzerland to discuss his role as president and his bid for the FIFA presidency.
The timing of the payment has raised suspicions: it came around two weeks after Platini had met former Asian confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam, who encouraged him to stand against Blatter.
“Delaying the scheduled election would only postpone needed change and create further instability”, added the 39-year-old.
Hansen also sits on FIFA’s audit and compliance panel so is likely to have deep knowledge of the case when UEFA meets on Thursday and Platini’s position is scrutinized. It was claimed Makudi had demanded TV rights from an England v Thailand friendly during the bidding for the 2018 World Cup.
FIFA, however, is under the temporary leadership of Issa Hayatou, who is due to arrive this week at the Zurich headquarters for the first time since becoming acting president. “When Van Praag fits into the picture, the KNVB will certainly think about it. First the questions around Platini should be clarified but it will certainly be discussed in the corridors”. However, just days later the 79-year-old Blatter announced intention to lay down his mandate amid U.S. and Swiss criminal investigations into the organization.
Prince Ali said that would “tell the world lessons haven’t been learned”.
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Although FIFA’s ethics committee does not have to prove a motive for Platini’s payment – unlike the Swiss attorney general – they have been exploring whether there was any connection to it being made months before Blatter gained UEFA’s support in the 2011 Federation Internationale de Football Association presidential election, a person familiar with the situation told AP. “The rules should not be changed after the game has started”.
