Michel Platini has confessed there was no written contract between himself and outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter for an alleged disloyal payment which resulted in the pair s suspension from the organisation.
Last week, Blatter called a reported two million Swiss franc payment to Platini in 2011 for work the Frenchman claims he carried out for FIFA between 1999 and 2002 a gentleman s agreement .
The transaction is the subject of a criminal investigation by the Swiss attorney general.
On October 8, the pair were provisionally suspended for 90 days by FIFA s Ethics Committee.
Platini says he undertook a verbal agreement due to the trust he had for his colleague.
For a long time I had neither a lawyer nor an agent to negotiate for me and …
Patrice Evra says English clubs struggle in Europe due to a lack of tactical sophistication and claims he was not worried when Juventus faced Manchester City in the Champions League.
The French full-back spent eight years in England with Manchester United, winning the Champions League and reaching the final twice.
He left Old Trafford for Juve in July 2014, winning Serie A in his first season and appearing in another European final, losing the tournament s decider to personal nemeses Barcelona for the third time in his career.
After strong continental showings between 2005 and 2011, Premier League clubs have struggled to make an impact in recent years.
And Evra has told the Sunday Times he believes English teams are not preparing thoroughly enough to be …
Barcelona took a big step towards another Copa del Rey final with a 2-1 first-leg victory against Atletico Madrid at the Vicente Calderon.
First-half strikes from Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez secured the win that puts the holders in control of the semi-final ahead of the return match at Camp Nou next Tuesday.
Diego Simeone s side have had success against Barca in recent years with a devastating co
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unterattacking style, but they were on the receiving end of the same tactic early in the first half and were punished by a brilliant run and finish from Suarez with only seven minutes played.
Messi made it 2-0 with a ferocious strike from the edge of the penalty area to silence the Calderon and leave Atletico facing a mountain to climb.
The 2013 winne…
Shkodran Mustafi is confident Arsenal have what it takes to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League at the expense of Bayern Munich.
The Gunners were eliminated by Bayern in the round of 16 in 2012-13 and 2013-14, but Mustafi nonetheless sees cause for optimism, as he feels Arsene Wenger s men hold the outcome in their own hands.
We know that Bayern will be a difficult game, but we also know that if we play to our potential we can beat Bayern, Mustafi told Sky Sports ahead of Wednesday s first leg at the Allianz Arena.
It is the first time for me, but I know that Bayern have regularly knocked out Arsenal in recent years. Like I said, I am convinced our team can beat Bayern if we play to our potential. It is up to us, that is what makes me so positive a…
s Matteo Darmian has given the signal he is ready to leave Old Trafford after three years, according to a report by .
Since his arrival from Torino in 2015, the Italian has seen his number of appearances progressively diminish with every season 39, 29, 13 (so far). With former winger Antonio Valencia preferred in the right-back role and performing at a very high level, Darmian s situation isn t likely to improve soon.
are his preferred destination, and the Italian champions are interested, according to the report. Therefore, the only thing remaining is for the two clubs to agree on a fee, and Darmian should be off to his native country.
For the Old Lady, the arrival of Darmian should provide some decent competition for the current first choice in the position,…
Niko Kovac missed out on an opportunity to beat his future club, as a much-changed Bayern Munich side thumped Eintracht Frankfurt 4-1 in the Bundesliga.
Former Bayern player Kovac was announced as Jupp Heynckes successor in April, having impressed at Frankfurt in the past two seasons.
However, in a dress rehearsal for the DFB-Pokal final, it was Heynckes, despite having made eight changes to Bayern s starting XI ahead of the Champions League clash with Real Madrid, who triumphed thanks to goals from Niklas Dorsch, Sandro Wagner, Rafinha and Niklas Sule.
Dorsch marked his Bayern debut in style on 43 minutes, although it could have been different for Frankfurt, with both Mijat Gacinovic and Luka Jovic having passed up gilt-edged chances.
Wagner s well-taken…
John Stones says he has never seen a young player as talented as Phil Foden, as Gareth Southgate weighs up whether to stick with the Manchester City man for England s World Cup last-16 clash with Senegal.
Foden was left out of England s line-up for their first two games in Qatar – a 6-2 thrashing of Iran and a goalless draw with the United States – but he got on the scoresheet after starting Tuesday s 3-0 win over Wales.
He led his team-mates for expected goals (1.04 xG), shots in the Wales area (four) and crosses (five) last time out, and Foden s City colleague expects him to continue impressing.
I ve never seen anyone at that age like Phil, with his ability, his football knowledge, and his freedom in how he plays and how he expresses himself, Stones said …
´We don´t want to feel like this again´ – Pulisic proud, but wants USA to build towards winning a Wo
The United States must be proud of their efforts at the World Cup in Qatar, but Christian Pulisic insisted the team don t want to feel like this again.
A 3-1 defeat to the Netherlands at Khalifa International Stadium in Doha saw the USA knocked out of the competition on Saturday.
While the Dutch had a quarter-final against either Australia or Argentina to look forward to, the USA s focus will now turn to developing their young squad further ahead of the 2026 edition.
That tournament will be co-hosted by the USA, Canada and Mexico, and feature 48 countries, and Pulisic wants to see a team with title-winning quality.
Right now, it s just tough, you know? It hurts, after a tough loss like that, we feel like we could have had more, he said.
It s an…
Sanfrecce Hiroshima forward Douglas warned his team not to look any further than their Club World Cup quarter-final meeting with TP Mazembe.
The J.League champions claimed a 2-0 win over Auckland City on Thursday to progress to the last eight in Japan.
Yusuke Minagawa and Tsukasa Shiotani struck in Yokohama after poor goalkeeping from Auckland custodian Jacob Spoonley.
Douglas, who scored 21 league goals this season, said it was crucial for his team to stay focused on CAF Champions League winners TP Mazembe.
The winner of Sunday s clash in Osaka will face Argentinian side River Plate in the semi-finals.
Mazembe are a strong team, and they defeated Internacional [de Porto Alegre] in the past [in 2010], Douglas told FIFA.com.
If we can win…
Manchester City defender Pablo Zabaleta has hinted he would be interested in a move away from the Etihad Stadium.
The Argentina international arrived at the club from Espanyol in 2008 and has become a popular figure among their fans, featuring in the Premier League Team of the Season for the last campaign.
However, Zabaleta, who helped City win their first Premier League title in 2011-12, has revealed he would be interested in playing in Serie A at some point in his career.
Serie A is a major championship in which I d like to play one day, he told Sportitalia.
Specifically, he said current champions Juventus would interest him as well as Milan, Inter and Fiorentina.
Zabaleta contiued: Which team do I like? Juventus, Inter and AC Milan are important clubs b…