Tuesday 8 December 2015 19:19, UK
Michel Platini hopes his lawyers have done enough to win him a temporary return to football later this week after his appeal was heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The UEFA president is currently suspended from all involvement in the game by FIFA's ethics committee, who banned him and their own president Sepp Blatter in October.
Initial appeals by both men were rejected by FIFA last month and Platini took his case to the CAS in Switzerland on Tuesday.
The Frenchman's case appears to be supported by a 23-page memo published in a newspaper in his homeland at the weekend which his lawyers argue clears him of corruption charges.
Platini and Blatter were suspended over a £1.3m payment from football's governing body in 2011 - a transaction signed off by the latter - to the former Juventus player.
Platini's representatives believe the document proves he was doing legitimate work for FIFA in return for payment from 1998 to 2002 which was never received until almost a decade later.
The 60-year-old hopes to be reinstated to his usual role on Friday so he can attend Saturday's Euro 2016 group draw. As things stand, he cannot attend under the terms of his ban.
While 79-year-old Blatter's FIFA departure was already on the horizon, a longer suspension for the two would be hugely detrimental to Platini.
He intends to stand to replace Blatter as the head of the FIFA hierarchy in February but will only be allowed to do so if the sanctions presently imposed on him are lifted.
A hearing before the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA's ethics committee will be heard from December 16 and a final decision is expected before Christmas.
In the meantime, Platini is optimistic of being granted a short-term reprieve having vowed on arrival in Lausanne: "I will tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, I swear."
He later added as he left: "You know I don't like injustices. I hope I've been heard well. My lawyers have been very good.
"Will I be at the Euro 2016 draw in Paris on Saturday? I'll ask (the CAS judges)."
