DPA/Berlin


UEFA president Michel Platini’s bid to become president of football world governing FIFA suffered a major setback Friday when England’s Football Association suspended its support.
The FA said it decided to suspend its backing for Platini following information received from Platini’s lawyers.
The decision came a day after UEFA’s 54 member associations meeting in Nyon, Switzerland issued a statement in support of Platini. The former France international and FIFA president Joseph Blatter were last week suspended by FIFA’s ethics committee for 90 days.
Elections for a new FIFA president at an extraordinary congress in Zurich in February 26, already uncertain after the suspensions of Blatter, Platini, FIFA secretary general Jerome Vacke (also 90 days) and FIFA presidential candidate Chung Mong Joon for six years, have been thrown further into doubt over the crumbling support for Platini.
At present the only candidate untroubled by corruption allegations affecting FIFA and senior football administrators is Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, who submitted his formal candidacy on Thursday.
Another possible candidate is Asian confederation chief Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifah of Bahrain, according to British news reports.
Even before the FA’s decision, it was thought UEFA could pick another candidate before the October 26 deadline for nominations, with the candidate then possibly withdrawing if Platini were cleared and still had UEFA support.
Former France international Platini has denied any wrongdoing in an investigation by Swiss prosecutors into a payment of 2 million Swiss francs (about 2 million dollars) made to him in 2011 by Blatter for work said to have been carried out between 1999 and 2002.
Platini has been questioned by the Swiss attorney general as somewhere “between a witness and an accused person” over the payment.
The FA said it suspended its support for Platini following information now received from Platini’s lawyers.
FA said that while it supported the decision by UEFA members to back Platini in his case with FIFA’s ethics committee, it had decided to suspend support for him as a presidential candidate.
“The FA wishes Mr Platini every success in fighting these charges and clearing his name, and has no interest in taking any action that jeopardises this process,” a statement said.
“However, notwithstanding the above, at the UEFA meeting on Thursday, the FA learnt more information relating to the issues at the centre of this case from Mr Platini’s lawyers.
“We have been instructed that the information must be kept confidential and therefore we cannot go into specifics.
“As a result of learning this information, The FA Board has on Friday morning concluded that it must suspend its support for Mr Platini’s candidature for the FIFA Presidency until the legal process has been concluded and the position is clear.
“A decision can then be taken on who to support in the Presidential election on 26 February 2016.” In its statement Thursday, UEFA said: “We support Michel Platin’s right to a due process and a fair trial and to the opportunity to clear his name.
“We strongly call on all instances involved in the current process: FIFA’s Ethics Committee, FIFA’s Appeal Committee and, ultimately, the Court of Arbitration for Sport to work very rapidly to ensure that there is a final decision on the merits of the case by, at the latest, mid-November 2015.”