17 February,2016 07:59 AM IST | | AFP
The fallen head of European football, Michel Platini said he was 'happy' following his marathon hearing before FIFA's appeals committee on Monday where he protested against the 'injustice' of his eight-year ban from the sport for ethics violations
Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini
Zurich: The fallen head of European football, Michel Platini said he was 'happy' following his marathon hearing before FIFA's appeals committee on Monday where he protested against the 'injustice' of his eight-year ban from the sport for ethics violations.
Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini
Platini's hearing was to be followed yesterday by that of suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who was also hit with an eight-year ban.
The former France captain arrived at FIFA's Zurich headquarters at 10:30 GMT and left eight-and-a-half hours later saying he was 'happy with the way it went'.
"It was a good hearing, well led by sincere people. I was heard by people who are part of the football family. Now we'll see how it goes," he told journalists.
Platini, accompanied by his lawyer Thibaud D'Ales, presented his two witnesses - Frenchman Jacques Lambert, the president of the Euro-2016 organising committee, and Spaniard Angel Maria Villar Llona, a UEFA vice-president - to prove the existence of the famous oral contract agreed between himself and Blatter.
Meanwhile, Blatter arrived at the FIFA headquarters here yesterday for his hearing by the FIFA appeals committee. He arrived 90 minutes before the start of his hearing at 0800 GMT.
Both men were banned by FIFA's ethics committee in December after being found guilty of breaches surrounding a mysterious 2 million Swiss franc ($2 million) payment Platini received from Blatter in 2011.
