Platini sceptical on CAS appeal
After being banned from football for six years, Michel Platini has taken his appeal to CAS – but the former UEFA chief is not confident.
Michel Platini does not expect his appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against his six-year ban from all football-related activity to be successful.
Platini was initially handed an eight-year suspension by FIFA in relation to a "disloyal payment" made by the organisation's then president Sepp Blatter in 2011.
On February 24, the Frenchman had the length of his sanction reduced by the FIFA Appeal Committee, but signalled his intention to continue fighting his case by filing an appeal with CAS on March 2.
However, the 60-year-old former UEFA chief does not hold out much hope of being exonerated.
"I have rarely seen someone win against FIFA or UEFA through CAS. My lawyers are optimistic, but I'm very sceptical," Platini told L'Equipe.
"I know how it works from the inside. It is FIFA against me. This is not a matter between two clubs.
"As long as I am president of UEFA, even if I am suspended, I'm close [to football]. If I am definitively suspended, I will watch on from afar."
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Trials for video assistant referees were announced by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) on Saturday, something Platini suggested he would have implemented as FIFA president, despite being against the use of technology.
"I think it is a bad thing. Now, if the tests show that it is a good thing, why not. I think this is not right and that it will not work," he said.
"If it proves me wrong, great, but it should not be the business of the companies working on the video who win. There is a lot of lobbying in this area and a lot of interest behind this. Some have been preparing for a long time.
"I am quite against the introduction of technology."