Michel Platini will discover by May 9 if he has overturned a six-year ban from FIFA over a $2 million payment approved by Sepp Blatter.
The UEFA president attended an eight-hour closed-door hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Friday.
It appears unlikely there will be a verdict in time for Tuesday when UEFA gathers in Budapest, Hungary, for its annual congress of 54 football federations who have been without their leader for seven months.
CAS secretary general Matthieu Reeb said the verdict would come before May 9 after a three-member panel judged Platini’s case afresh.
CAS also has the authority to impose a life ban for corruption. Previously, FIFA’s ethics and appeals committees ruled out bribery as a factor and found Platini and Blatter guilty of charges including conflict of interest and disloyalty.
Blatter, the former FIFA president, arrived at 10:30 am to be a witness at FIFA’s request. He employed Platini as a presidential adviser from 1999-2002, nine years before FIFA paid Platini the $2 million in uncontracted salary.
“I accepted this task. I’m on good form and I’m happy to be a witness in this matter,” Blatter said before going in.
He emerged 90 minutes later.
“It was fair and correct,” Blatter said. “I do hope that my participation has helped to find a solution to this problem.”
Platini and his former mentor deny wrongdoing, and claim they had a verbal contract for the additional money. FIFA eventually paid Platini three months before Blatter was re-elected as president in 2011.
Both are effectively the star witness in each other’s appeal case, and were heard on back-to-back days by the two earlier FIFA tribunals.
This time, Blatter’s appeal against his six-year ban will be heard at a later date, and by a separate CAS panel of judges.
It is probable, and unusual in sports law, that Platini’s verdict will be announced before a hearing is held for Blatter, despite their cases involving much of the same evidence.
Platini has shown more urgency to go to CAS as he and UEFA seek clarity before the European Championship kicks off on June 10. Platini hopes to clear his name to oversee the tournament, being played in his native France for the first time since 1984, when he captained the host nation to victory.
UEFA’s priorities include organizing a presidential election, possibly in Paris in June, to replace Platini if he remains banned.
One of the potential candidates to succeed Platini was among the witnesses on Friday. UEFA and FIFA vice president Angel Maria Villar of Spain declined to speak with reporters before and after his 90-minute session in the court.
A third witness is Jacques lambert, the Euro 2016 tournament director and a longtime friend of Platini. lambert and Platini led the 1998 World Cup organizing operation in France before the former France great went to work for FIFA.
long seen as Blatter’s heir apparent, Platini’s chance of becoming FIFA president was ended by the payment, which became public knowledge last September when Swiss federal prosecutors opened criminal proceedings against Blatter for suspected mismanagement.
Blatter was replaced as FIFA president two months ago by Gianni Infantino, Platini’s long-time right-hand man at UEFA. Six weeks before Euro 2016 kicks off, UEFA has no working president and an interim secretary general.
CAS appointed luigi Fumagelli of Italy to chair the panel judging Platini. Platini’s legal team chose Jan Paulsson of France from the list of CAS-approved judges, and FIFA picked Bernard Hanotiau of Belgium.
Ronaldo to miss liga match
MADRID: Real Madrid strikers Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema will miss Saturday’s league match as they try to recover from injuries in time to face Manchester City in the return leg of their Champions league semifinal.
Coach Zinedine Zidane said that neither of his top two scorers was fit for the trip to Real Sociedad, where Madrid needs a win to stay in the Spanish league title race. Madrid trails leader Barcelona and second-place Atletico Madrid by one point with three matches to go.
Madrid hosts City on Wednesday after the two sides drew 0-0 in the first leg, where Madrid clearly missed Ronaldo’s spark in attack and where Benzema played only the first half.
“I am worried because each time you have a player injured it is difficult,” Zidane said on Friday. “Now the most important thing is that they completely recover because we cannot take risks with Cristiano and Karim.”
Both Ronaldo and Benzema are nursing right leg injuries. Ronaldo missed the away leg at City and last weekend’s league match at Rayo Vallecano, while Benzema came off early during those matches because of a hamstring injury.
Zidane did not specify Ronaldo’s injury, a subject of intense speculation in the Spanish media.
“I can’t give any details because I am not a doctor,” Zidane said.
But Madrid did issue a medical report about Benzema, saying on Thursday that the France striker hurt his right hamstring.
Their absence leaves Gareth Bale - who scored twice in last weekend’s 3-2 win at Vallecano to reach 18 league goals — as Madrid’s main focus in attack against an unpredictable Sociedad side.
Sociedad, which sits in 12th place, beat defending champion Barcelona 1-0 earlier this month to tighten up a title race that promises to go to the wire.
Pochettino to extend contract
lONDON: Mauricio Pochettino plans to extend his Tottenham contract until 2021. The Argentine, who arrived at Tottenham on a five-year contract in 2014, announced on Friday he has verbally agreed to a new five-year deal.
“We started to speak before, a few months ago, and today I think is a good moment to communicate we have reached the verbal agreement,” Pochettino said. “It was an easy decision when you feel the love of the people and the potential of the club is massive, so why changeIJ We create a good atmosphere on the training ground, and we can achieve big things in the future. I believe in this project and this club. I want to stay here.”