Michel Platini sharply criticizes FIFA president

Former UEFA president Michel Platini sharply criticized FIFA president Gianni Infantino, accusing him of becoming an autocrat after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“He was a good number two, but not a good number one. He worked very well at UEFA, but he has a problem — he likes the rich and the powerful, those with money. It’s in his nature. He was like that as number two, but he wasn’t the boss at the time. Unfortunately, Infantino became an autocrat after the pandemic,” Platini said in an interview published in London’s The Guardian.

Infantino served as UEFA’s general secretary from 2009 to 2015, during the period when Platini was leading European football (2007–2015), CE Report quotes MIA.

Platini has been in open conflict with Infantino for several years, suspecting that Infantino pushed him out of the race for the FIFA presidency in 2015 by informing the Swiss public prosecutor about a suspicious payment of two million Swiss francs.

Platini, who, together with Blatter, was accused of financial fraud, was acquitted of all charges in 2025.