Michel Platini, candidate for FIFA president on 29/07/2015, announced his withdrawal on 08/01/2016

Michel Platini, UEFA president, announced his candidacy for the presidency of FIFA on 29/07/2015, ahead of the elections scheduled on 26/02/2016.

But the Frenchman, provisionally suspended on 08/10/2015, was formally suspended for eight years from any activity in football by the adjudicatory chamber of the FIFA Ethics Committee on 21/12/2015. He was found guilty of "conflict of interest" and "mismanagement" because of a controversial payment of 2 million Swiss francs (€1.54m at the time of payment), on 01/02/2011, concerning his role as an advisor to FIFA president Joseph Blatter from 1999 to 2002.

The favourite to succeed Joseph Blatter, Michel Platini announced that he had formally withdrawn his candidacy for the FIFA presidency on 08/01/2016.

News Tank Football offers a chronology of events concerning Michel Platini, from the opening investigation by the Swiss legal authorities, on 25/09/2015, of criminal proceedings against Blatter for controversial payment to Platini, to the Frenchman's appeal hearing in front of the FIFA Appeal Committee on 15/02/2016.