Paris: Michel Platini has decided not to attend his hearing before FIFA's ethics committee in Zurich, scheduled for Friday, his lawyers told AFP on Wednesday.


Michel Platini. Pic/AFP

A statement from the legal representatives of the suspended UEFA president said he chose to boycott the hearing after "the verdict was already announced to the press by a spokesman...going against the presumption of innocence."

Platini and FIFA president Sepp Blatter are currently serving 90-day bans from all footballing activities after Swiss prosecutors opened a criminal investigation looking partly into a two million Swiss franc (1.8 million euro; $2 million) payment Blatter authorised to Platini in 2011, reportedly for work done a decade earlier.

The provisional ban is due to expire on January 5 but both men risk being banned for life by the tribunal, with a verdict expected on Monday. According to Platini's lawyers, who will attend the hearing, prosecutors are seeking a lifetime ban against the Frenchman. The penalty sought against Blatter is not known.