Michel Platini detained over award of 2022 World Cup to Qatar

• Former Uefa president detained in Paris
• Platini taken into custody as part of investigation

Michel Platini, the banned former Uefa president and France football legend, has been detained in connection with a criminal investigation into alleged corruption relating to Fifa’s decision to host the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, French justice sources have confirmed. Platini’s detention was first reported by the news website Mediapart on Tuesday morning, with Claude Gueant, the former secretary general of the Élysée Palace under the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy, also being interviewed as a “free suspect”.

Another adviser to Sarkozy during his presidency, Sophie Dion, was also detained for questioning.

The detention of Platini, who voted for Qatar to host the tournament, represents the first substantial public move in an investigation into the 2022 decision opened two years ago by France’s Parquet National Financier, which is responsible for law enforcement against serious financial crime. According to the judicial sources, the PNF is investigating possible “private corruption”, “criminal conspiracy” and “influence peddling and trading in influence” over the December 2010 vote, which are categories of corruption in French law.

Platini’s representatives issued a statement stressing he had not been arrested – which was confirmed by the judicial authorities’ source – and that the detention was for a “technical” reason to maintain the confidentiality of the interview. The statement said Platini had also been questioned about Uefa’s award, by a single vote, of the 2016 European Championship to France. Platini was said to be “absolutely confident” that he had done nothing wrong and “had nothing to reproach himself for”.

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