One of football’s most powerful administrator and a former UEFA president Michel Platini has been detained by police in France as part of an investigation into the decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.
The 63-year-old was questioned and detained by the Ministry of Justice amid an investigation into the awarding of the hosting rights of the tournament
An investigation into the controversial decision to allow Qatar to host the tournament, despite the Western Asian country’s human rights record and logistical problems posed by the nation’s laws, has led to the former France star being detained by French prosecutors.
The French Ministry of Justice confirmed that anti-corruption officers took the 63-year-old in for questioning in the Parisian suburb of Nanterre on Tuesday morning.
French newspaper Le Monde reports that the arrest is in relation to a meeting Platini admitted attending with former France president Nicolas Sarkozy and then Qatari crown prince – now Emir – Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani just days before the vote to decide which country would host the 2022 edition of the tournament.
In 2015, Platini was banned from football-related activity for four years – reduced twice from an initial eight – due to a breach of FIFA’s code of ethics after it was found he received a “disloyal payment” from the governing body’s ex-president Sepp Blatter in 2011.
