Sepp Blatter, the head of world football governing body and Michel Platini, the head of European football’s governing body will avoid coming face-to-face on Friday amid the football corruption scandal after a UEFA-FIFA match was called off.
Blatter, the FIFA president, would usually travel to Platini’s UEFA headquarters in Nyon for the friendly.
But FIFA told The Associated Press: ‘’In a joint decision it was agreed to postpone the UEFA-FIFA challenge 2015, which had been scheduled for Friday, 2nd October, until further notice.’’
The game would have come a week after a criminal investigation was opened into Blatter in part over a payment in 2011 to Platini.
Platini is being treated “between as witness and an accused person,’’ Swiss authorities say.
The rift between Blatter and Platini widened recently when UEFA complained to FIFA about a document being distributed attempting to smear its president.
Swiss prosecutors accused Blatter of making a disloyal payment of $2m to Platini.
The UEFA boss has provided information to the investigation but said he did so as a witness.
Both men have however denied any wrongdoing.
Platini has said he is still determined to run for FIFA president once Blatter steps down in 2016.
Asked whether criminal proceedings had been opened against him, Platini said:
“Absolutely not. I was heard last week by the Swiss Authorities only as a person providing information and I cooperated fully.”
But the Swiss attorney general, Michael Lauber, contradicted this who said: “We didn’t interview Platini as a witness, that’s not true. We investigated against him in between as a witness and an accused person.”
Lauber also said he was prepared to search the UEFA headquarters as part of the investigation.
The allegations centre on a payment made to Platini in 2011 at FIFA’s expense for work he completed eleven years ago.
It came just two months before UEFA gave its backing to Blatter’s 2011 presidential campaign, leading some to question the timing of it.
Platini said he was told when starting the work that FIFA would not be able to pay him all the money because of its “financial situation”.
But FIFA accounts show a revenue surplus of around $83m from 1999-2002, when Platini undertook the work as a technical adviser.
FIFA was thrown into turmoil this year when the US and Swiss authorities launched separate investigations into corruption at the body.
Blatter is also suspected of signing a contract that was “unfavourable to FIFA”. He is due to stand down next year, but says he will carry on in the role despite the criminal proceedings against him.
Anthony Nlebem
