UEFA President Michel Platini, "freshly embroiled in the FIFA scandal" over a €1.8M payment he received from President Sepp Blatter, "called the French sports ministry to insist he had done nothing wrong," according to Julien Pretot of REUTERS. French Secretary of State Thierry Braillard said, "He has the feeling he is clean, and he wanted to say it to me again. He explained everything. I fully trust his honesty and his determination to become FIFA president." Platini is being questioned about a payment of 2M Swiss francs he received from Blatter "but has not been accused of any wrongdoing, although he admitted the development had damaged his chances" of replacing Blatter as FIFA president (REUTERS, 10/3).
SALMAN WEIGHING BID: REUTERS' Simon Evans reported one of Platini's "main backers," Bahraini Asian Football Confederation President Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, reportedly "might stand himself if a Swiss investigation hampers the Frenchman's candidacy." Salman had given a "ringing endorsement" to Platini as the man to "lead FIFA out of a graft scandal that broke in May and has grown to the worst in its 111-year history." Former Blatter adviser and confidant Klaus Stoehlker said that he understood that Salman is "carefully looking at the situation of the FIFA election" but has yet to make a decision on whether to enter the race. Media reports in Qatar have suggested Salman "might run in the February vote in Zurich if Platini dropped his bid." Asian football analyst Osama el-Shekh, "a well-connected expert in gulf region football politics," said that he has been made aware that Salman is "waiting to see the outcome of the investigation into the payment." El-Shekh said, "In the case that Platini decides not to stand, or if there is a reason, such as the Ethics Committee, that he cannot stand, then Sheikh Salman maybe will decide to stand" (REUTERS, 10/1).
