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UEFA delays presidential vote until end of Michel Platini's appeal

UEFA president Michel Platini
Image: Michel Platini withdrew from the race for FIFA presidency

UEFA will not hold a presidential election until Michel Platini's appeal against his eight-year ban from all football activity is complete.

Platini and outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter were suspended by FIFA's ethics committee at the end of last year for conflict of interest in a £1.35m payment deal that is also the subject of a criminal investigation in Switzerland.

Platini has given up his bid to become the next FIFA president, but remains determined to overturn the ban despite FIFA refusing his request to bypass its process and appeal directly to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The European football governing body will meet in Budapest at a congress in May when a new president could have been elected before the European Championship to be held in France this summer.

But UEFA says its executive committee has "decided there will be no UEFA presidential election scheduled until the sports justice appeal bodies, including potentially the Court of Arbitration for Sport, have taken a decision".

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UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino entered the FIFA election race after Platini was banned.

In the UEFA statement released on Friday afternoon, it was also stated that they hoped Platini's name "is cleared and that he can return to the European football family as quickly as possible".

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The UEFA executive committee also unanimously affirmed that Infantino's candidacy for the FIFA presidency by saying they are certain "he is the right man" to take FIFA forward.

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