Michel platini

Michel François Platini (Jœuf, Meurthe et Moselle, June 21, 1955) is a French former soccer player, coach and sports manager. From 2007 to 2015 he was president of UEFA, the governing body of European soccer. He is considered by FIFA as one of the best players of the 20th century and one of the great midfielders in the history of football. He was considered by the IFFHS and France Football magazine as the best French footballer of the XX century. best passers ever.

He was banned from soccer for eight years for ethics violations in the corruption scandal known as “FIFA Gate”. He managed to reduce his ban to four years, which meant he could return to work at football in October 2019, but continues with legal problems for that matter.

During his playing days, Platini was noted for his great skill and his extraordinary free kick finish. He made up for his physical limitations with a refined technique and vision of the game, which elevated him to the top of European football. He is one of the highest scoring midfielders in football history.

He became the first player to win the Ballon d'Or for three consecutive years, which he won between 1983 and 1985. He also placed seventh in the FIFA Player of the Century Vote and was part of the World Team of the 20th Century. In recognition of his achievements, he was awarded the distinction of chevalier de la Légion d'honneur , an honorary title bestowed by the French government.

During his career, he played for clubs Nancy, Saint-Étienne and Juventus; he won Serie A's capocannoniere award three consecutive times between 1983 and 1985, and was the top scorer in Juventus' victorious 1984-85 European Cup campaign. He won a total of 6 titles with the Italian club, including the Intercontinental Cup, the European Cup and the European Super Cup.

With the French national team, he captained fifty times between 1979 and 1987. He lifted his first international trophy at the end of Euro 1984, where he was the top scorer and best player, and was a two-time French Cup semifinalist World, in 1982 and in 1986. In the 1984 Euro Cup, he set a record of nine goals scored in that tournament alone, and held the record for the most goals (9) scored in the Euro Cup until being surpassed by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2021. It is the third highest scorer in the history of the French team, only surpassed by Thierry Henry and Olivier Giroud.

After his retirement as a player, he was the coach of the France national team for four years and was the co-organizer of the 1998 World Cup in France. In 2007, he became the first former player to be elected president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). He also held the positions of Chairman of the FIFA Development and Technical Committee and Vice President of the French Football Federation.

On December 14, 2020, he was included as an attacking midfielder in the third historic Ballon d'Or Dream Team.

On June 18, 2019, Platini was arrested in France in connection with suspicions of corruption related to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The investigation focuses on the November 2010 meeting between the Qatari authorities and the then French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Platini at the Élysée Palace, which was also attended by Guéant and Dion.

Biography

Born in Jœuf, in the Lorraine region, Platini is the son of Aldo and Anna (Piccinelli), both of Italian descent. Anna's family traces its roots to the province of Belluno, while Aldo's father, Francesco Platini, was an immigrant from Agrate Conturbia, in the province of Novara, who settled in France shortly after the end of World War I.. Aldo was a professional footballer and longtime manager of AS Nancy, the club where Michel began his professional career.

Beginnings

He began his sports career in 1966, at the age of 11, at A.S. Joeuf, a third division club run by his father. At the age of 16, he was already surprising by playing with Joeuf in a match against FC Metz in the Gambardella Cup. He was about to sign for said club but could not due to injury, as the doctors ruled that he had breathing problems and a fragile heart, although he ended up joining the club run by his father, AS Nancy, in 1972.

Nancy

He made his professional debut for Nancy in May 1973, in his first game with the reserve team, against Valenciennes, where Platini scored a hat-trick. In 1974 he suffered a serious injury when he broke his left leg in a match against OGC Nice. Nancy were relegated that year, but thanks mainly to the work of Platini, by scoring 17 goals in Ligue 2, Nancy returned to the elite of French football. Following the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Platini signed his first professional contract with Nancy for two years, and guided his team to the 1978 French Cup against Nice by scoring the only goal of the match. In 1979, his contract with Nancy and Paris Saint-Germain expired, Inter and AS Saint-Étienne were interested in signing him. Finally, he signed a three-year contract with the latter.

AS Saint-Étienne

Platini at Juventus in the 1985 Intercontinental Cup.

Platini played three years with the Verts and during that time the club had an excellent run in European competitions. Ligue 1 was won in 1981, in addition to reaching two consecutive French Cup finals, against Sporting Club de Bastia in 1981 and in 1982 against Paris Saint-Germain in what was his last year at the Les Verts before signing for one of the greats in Europe: Juventus in Turin.

Juventus FC

In 1982, Platini was signed by Juventus in Turin. With this team he won the Italian Serie A and the Italian Cup, the European Cup, the European Cup Winners' Cup and the European Super Cup, as well as the Intercontinental Cup, after beating Argentinos Juniors in Tokyo, on penalties, after drawing 2 goals, a match in the one who scored a goal and converted the penalty in the definition.

He was an essential member of the legendary Bianconero team, which under the technical direction of Giovanni Trapattoni had achieved great feats in Europe (the 3 Great Cups) and exclusively conquered the league.

In the 1983, 1984 and 1985 editions, he won the Ballon d'Or, a trophy awarded annually by France Football magazine to the best footballer in Europe. Michel Platini was the only player to receive the trophy for three consecutive years, currently the record was equaled in the 2009-2011 period by Argentine soccer player Lionel Messi.

Retirement and president of UEFA

In 1987, at the age of 32, Michel Platini announced his retirement from soccer, stating that he no longer found pleasure in what he did and that for him the goal of soccer should be to be able to enjoy it. A year later he took charge of the French national team, and in 1989 he was appointed director of the French Federation. In the European Championship held in Sweden in 1992 he led his team, where he put in a discreet performance. In 1998 he was elected co-president of the Organizing Committee for the World Cup in France, a task he carried out satisfactorily.

Subsequently, he became part of FIFA and the French Football Federation, of which he was appointed vice-president.

On January 26, 2007, during the celebration of the XXXI Ordinary Congress of UEFA, held in the German city of Düsseldorf, Michel Platini is elected president of said organization after defeating the other candidate, the Swedish Lennart Johansson. In his speech, the new president highlighted the virtues of solidarity and universality.

On July 9, 2010, he suffered a drop in blood pressure in Johannesburg, South Africa, which led to rumors of a possible heart attack, later denied by the doctor in charge of treating him.

From his position as UEFA president, he advocates for the recognition of the Gibraltar team as a national team. He reinforces this message by going on May 10, 2015 in Gibraltar to the final of the local championship at the Victoria stadium.

Suspension

Platini, Rafał Dutkiewicz, Grzegorz Lato (Breslavia, 2009).

Joseph Blatter and Platini have been suspended by the FIFA Ethics Committee for a period of eight years from any football-related activity. Suspended UEFA President Michel Platini slapped with a ban of eight years by the FIFA Ethics Committee, regretted that it was stopped "deliberately and with a cynicism that is not hidden" his candidacy for the presidency of that body. In a new statement released by his lawyers, released after Platini dismissed the process as fraud and announced that he is going to appeal it, he denounced that the & # 34; calendar game & # 34; chosen by FIFA is not compatible with the election.

On June 18, 2019, he was arrested in Paris for alleged corruption in the election of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, a tournament in which Spain also presented a candidacy to be the host country for said event. of an investigation ordered by the office of the National Finance Prosecutor (PNF) "for acts of active and passive bribery", according to the prestigious French outlet Mediapart. Qatar has been accused of buying votes in its bid to host the 2022 World Cup, and a subsequent report by independent American researcher Michael Garcia uncovered a series of deals involving some of world soccer's top leaders. The former French soccer player himself admitted having voted for Qatar's candidacy in the December 2, 2010 vote, and had already been heard as a witness in December 2017.

This investigation for which Michel Platini has been arrested focuses on the meeting held in November 2010 by the Qatari authorities with Nicolas Sarkozy and Platini at the Élysée Palace, which was also attended by former Secretary General of the Palace Claude Guéant and Sophie Dion, a former adviser to the then French president.

National team

He made his debut for the French national team on March 27, 1976, when France faced Czechoslovakia at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris. In 1978 he made his debut in the Soccer World Cup, at almost 23 years of age. In that World Cup his team played a correct role, although it did not go beyond the first round. In the match he played against Argentina, he converted his first goal in a World Cup. He then participated in the 1982 and 1986 World Cups, tournaments in which his team reached the semifinals. It could be said that in Spain 1982 his career reached international flight and he emerged as one of the greatest footballers of the century. On that occasion he played one of the most remembered matches in the history of the World Cups: the semifinal against Federal Germany. In this match, which the Germans began winning, France managed to tie with a goal from Platini and in extra time, after the match ended 1-1, France managed to get ahead on the scoreboard, establishing a 3:1 in their favor; but then the Germans draw 3-3 and end up winning the game on penalties.

In Mexico 1986 France played another two memorable matches. One in the round of 16 against Italy, and especially the match against Brazil, in the quarterfinals. Brazil arrived without having lost any game, and with an undefeated fence; Michel Platini managed to beat her tying the match. The definition by penalties decided that France was the semifinalist. Pelé would later qualify this match as the match of the Century. In all the meetings Michel Platini marked his stamp. Then France was eliminated from the cup by the German soccer team.

In 1984, being the captain of his team, France and Platini won the team's first major international title: the Eurocup, being him the top scorer in the championship with 9 goals.

Participations in World Cups

World	Headquarters	Outcome	Parties	Goles	Prom.
1978 World Cup	Argentina	First phase	3	1	0.33
1982 World Cup	SpainSpain	Fourth place	5	2	0.40
1986 World Cup	Mexico Mexico	Third place	6	2	0.33

Participations in European Championships

Euro	Headquarters	Outcome	Parties	Goles	Prom.
Euro 1984	France	Champion	5	9	1.80

Statistics

Clubs

Club	Season	Div.	League		Cups		International		Total		Prom.
			Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles
A. S. Nancy France	1972-73	1. a	4	2	-	-	-	-	4	2	0.50
	1973-74		21	2	3	-	-	-	24	2	0.08
	1974-75	2. a	32	17	7	13	-	-	39	30	0.77
	1975-76	1. a	31	22	5	6	-	-	36	28	0.78
	1976-77		38	25	1	-	-	-	39	25	0.64
	1977-78		36	18	10	7	-	-	46	25	0.54
	1978-79		19	12	5	3	-	-	24	15	0.63
	Total club		181	98	31	29	0	0	212	127	0.60
A. S. Saint-Etienne France	1979-80	1. a	33	16	7	5	7	5	47	26	0.55
	1980-81		35	20	10	5	7	4	52	29	0.56
	1981-82		36	22	8	5	2	-	46	27	0.59
	Total club		104	58	25	15	16	9	145	82	0.57
Juventus de Turin ItalyItaly	1982-83	1. a	30	16	9	7	9	5	48	28	0.58
	1983-84		28	20	7	3	8	2	43	25	0.58
	1984-85		30	18	9	4	9	7	48	29	0.60
	1985-86		30	12	6	1	7	4	43	17	0.40
	1986-87		29	2	8	1	4	2	41	5	0.12
	Total club		147	68	39	16	37	20	223	104	0.47
Total career			432	224	95	60	53	29	580	313	0.54

Statistical summary

Honours of Prizes

National Championships

Title	Club	Country	Year
Ligue 2	Nancy	France	1975
French Cup			1978
Ligue 1	Saint-Étienne		1981
Italian Cup	Juventus	ItalyItaly	1983
Series A			1984
Series A			1986

International Cups

Title	Equipment	Headquarters	Year
Coup Europe	Juventus F. C.	Basel	1983-84
European Super Cup		Turin	1984
Euro	Selection of France	France	1984
UEFA Champions League	Juventus	Heysel	1985
Intercontinental Cup		Tokyo	1985
Copa Artemio Franchi	Selection of France	Paris	1985

Individual awards