30 July,2015 08:10 AM IST | | AFP
UEFA boss Michel Platini is to stand as a candidate for the presidency of world football's governing body, FIFA, UEFA announced yesterday.
Michel Platini
Paris: UEFA boss Michel Platini is to stand as a candidate for the presidency of world football's governing body, FIFA, UEFA announced yesterday.
Michel Platini
The announcement ends weeks of speculation over whether the 60-year-old Frenchman would stand in the election to find a successor to the beleaguered Sepp Blatter.
Blatter decided to stand down shortly after being re-elected as president in June with scandal-hit FIFA's reputation in tatters. He announced last week that the election for his successor would be held on February 26, 2016.
Platini officially announced his candidature in a letter to the presidents and general secretaries of the 209 FIFA member countries, and made public by UEFA.
"This was a very personal, carefully considered decision, one in which I weighed up the future of football alongside my own future," he said. "I was also guided by the esteem, support and encouragement that many of you have shown me."
