European Court rejects Michel Platini's appeal over ban

European Court rejects Michel Platini's appeal over ban

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ex-Uefa president Michel Platini’s appeal against his ban from football has been thrown out by the European court of human rights. The ECHR announced on Thursday, March 5 morning that a seven-member panel of judges had dismissed Platini’s action against Fifa’s 2015 decision and held that his human rights had not been violated, The Guardian reports.

As part of his action Platini had claimed his suspension had not been subject to a fair and independent hearing. He also claimed the ban was an illegal restraint of trade. In response the court offered a 9,000-word judgment that concluded with the words: “This complaint is manifestly ill-founded and must be rejected.”

The decision to allow Fifa’s decision to stand is a devastating blow to the former Uefa president’s hopes of resurrecting his career in football. The ECHR decision is final and offers no chance of appeal.

Platini was found guilty by Fifa of taking an unexplained payment of 2m Swiss francs (£1.35m) from Sepp Blatter in 2011. He claims the sum was a legitimate salary payment. Fifa maintains the transaction had no legitimate basis.

Platini’s initial eight-year ban was reduced on appeal to four. It expired in September last year. The case in the ECHR was an attempt to hold those proceedings unlawful, to establish Platini’s innocence and beyond that to launch some kind of footballing comeback.

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