Platini admits meeting with Bin Hammam before Qatar vote

UEFA president Michel Platini attends a news conference after a meeting held in preparation of the EURO 2016 soccer tournament in Paris April 25, 2014. The UEFA EURO 2016 will be held in France from June 10 to July 10, 2016.  [Photo/Agencies]

The UEFA president Michel Platini has admitted holding a secret meeting with the disgraced football official Mohamed Bin Hammam, shortly before voting for Qatar.

A source close to Mr Platini, who is one of the most powerful men in football, said that he had met the Qatar football official for breakfast in a hotel in Switzerland, just a few days before the controversial decision to hand the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.

The source close to Mr Platini told Le Monde that Mr Bin Hammam asked the UEFA president to stand against Sepp Blatter in the 2011 Fifa presidency, but Mr Platini refused. Mr Bin Hammam subsequently decided to run himself, but a dossier of evidence emerged, which resulted in him being banned from football.

The source close to Mr Platini added that the two men had met 30 to 50 times, as both sat on the decision-making committee for Fifa.

However, the source insisted that Mr Platini had not met with the heads of states of countries vying to host the 2018 or the 2022 World Cups. President Putin invited Mr Platini to a meeting, but Mr Platini turned it down. Russia was awarded the 2018 World Cup.