Michel Platini Resigns as Uefa President

Uefa’s boss, Michel Platini will step down from his position on European football’s governing body after failing to have his six-year ban from world football overturned at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Today, CAS reduced the ban to four years and as a result, the 60-year-old former France captain has declared he would be stepping down, the BBC reports.

Former FIFA boss, Sepp Blatter and Platini had been found guilty of violating Fifa’s ethics over a $2m (£1.3m) “disloyal payment” made out in 2011, an accusation the pair deny as their bans were reduced from eight to six years by the Fifa appeals committee.

The France legend, like Blatter, had taken his case to Cas seeking redress, but a three-man panel ruled it “was not convinced by the legitimacy of the payment”.

After Cas returned its judgement, a statement from Platini’s lawyers said: “Michel Platini announces that he will resign as president of Uefa at the organisation’s next congress.”

It added the Frenchman was “deeply disappointed” by the decision.

Platini has seen his bid for Fifa presidency scuppered since the allegations, and he’ll now sit out this summer’s European championship in his native France, a tournament he described as his “child”.