Michel Platini may not take FIFA plunge

The Frenchman will make an announcement on Thursday after deciding whether to stand against long-term incumbent Sepp Blatter.

UEFA president Michel Platini is said to be in the race but is expected to lose. (Source:Reuters)

They play for high stakes in the casinos of Monte Carlo, but in the latest round of soccer politics UEFA president Michel Platini looks increasingly likely to stay away from the tables, preferring instead to bide his time before showing his hand. The Frenchman is to make a much-anticipated announcement on Thursday after deciding whether or not to stand against long-term incumbent Sepp Blatter in an election to become president of world soccer’s governing body FIFA.

But as it is clear this is a race he is unlikely to win, every indication now is that the 59-year-old will take the pragmatic option and keep his chips in his pocket.

Senior sources who know Platini well have told Reuters they cannot see him running, even though he was once seen as the natural successor to the current long-term FIFA president. One, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “The key point is, he is doing a good job as president of (European soccer’s governing body) UEFA and the European associations want him to remain as president.”

“He may have distanced himself from Blatter recently, but he is unlikely to beat Blatter in a vote. I don’t see any sign he is prepared to gamble what he has. If he wants to become FIFA president he will stand a better chance in five years’ time. You cannot be certain, but I would be surprised if he ran now.”

Blatter hurdle

The main obstacle barring Platini’s way, of course, is Blatter. The 78-year-old Swiss has been president of FIFA since 1998 and has given countless hints this year that he will stand again for a fifth term at the FIFA Congress in Zurich next June. If Blatter stood, won and saw out his mandate, he would be 83 when the next election is due in 2019, a year older than his predecessor Joao Havelange was when he gave up the post 16 years ago.

Speaking in March after the UEFA Congress in Kazakhstan, Platini told: “There is only one person who can beat Blatter — me. “But I have not yet decided to run. I am happy being UEFA president and I still have to decide about FIFA, I have to consult many people but it will be my personal decision in the end.”At the time he also said he had plenty of support from outside his European constituency. But Blatter appears to have more.

Just before the World Cup started in June, FIFA’s six confederations held congresses or meetings and Blatter addressed all of them.

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So far only one man has declared his candidacy — FIFA’s former deputy chief executive Jerome Champagne, who announced in London in January his intention to run but said at the news conference when he launched his bid he did not think he could beat Blatter if he decided to stand for re-election.