By Ben Rumsby, Monte Carlo
The futility of opposing Sepp Blatter’s campaign to remain the most powerful man in football was laid bare on Thursday night after Michel Platini finally confirmed he would not run for the Fifa presidency and Uefa refused to nominate a candidate to replace him.
Platini ended months of speculation by revealing that he would not contest next summer’s vote and would instead focus on securing re-election as the head of European football’s governing body.
The former France star’s announcement ahead of the Champions League draw in Monte Carlo came less than three months after five of Fifa’s six continental confederations pledged to support Blatter’s attempt to extend his controversial reign beyond 17 years.
Platini, who declared earlier this year that he was the only man who could beat the Swiss, insisted he had not been “afraid” of defeat and paved the way for a run on the presidency in 2019 by declaring: “Now is not my time – not yet.”
His decision not to compete until then raised the spectre of Blatter running unopposed for the second straight election, Uefa on Thursday refusing to endorse a stalking horse.
He said: “In 2007, I ran against Lennart Johansson, the standing [Uefa] president. It wasn’t a mean feat to beat him. I can’t be accused of being afraid of Mr Blatter, because I proved my stuff in 2007.”
Platini revealed he thought “long and hard” about running against Blatter but decided not to because of a burning desire to remain Uefa president.
“It was a choice based on my heart, it was a choice based on football and based on my passion,” he said, adding that he had unfinished business on “big projects” with European football’s governing body.
“I have a great deal of motivation to carry this out, to see them through, before maybe one day moving on to something else.” If that was a hint at a future attempt to succeed Blatter, Platini refused to elaborate.
He is still seething at his former ally’s reneging on a promise that the current term would be his last and the Frenchman publicly withdrew his backing for the 78-year-old just before the World Cup.
“I will not support Mr Blatter but I will support him or her who will bring something new for world football and will also defend, maybe, the interests of European football,” he said.
Platini promised to do the same from the “front line”, including fighting Blatter’s plan to cut Europe’s 13 places at the World Cup finals.
He said: “I have no intention of losing one place, one seat at the World Cup. But I have the intention to ask for one more, because we are world champion.
“We won three times in a row the World Cup.” He also vowed to use his position as a Fifa vice-president to act as a “counterbalance” to the man he helped win four successive elections but now opposes.
Urging its executive committee to “find its courage” and “not let Mr Blatter always be omnipresent and omnipotent”, he added: “We need to bring ideas, a want to change things and not always be lambs who simply say yes – not be sheep.”
Blatter ran unopposed four years ago when Qatari rival Mohamed Bin Hammam pulled out of the race after being engulfed in bribery allegations that still haunt Fifa to this day.
The incumbent’s only current opponent is his former deputy secretary general, Jérôme Champagne, who has very little support and appears to be hoping his campaign will ultimately help him secure a return to football’s world governing body.
The Dutch football association chairman, Michael van Praag, had been touted as Uefa candidate when he led calls for Blatter to step down just before the World Cup but it now looks as though Europe is praying for someone from another federation to step up.
