'Trickery led to France-Brazil final in 1998'
Disgraced former UEFA president Michel Platini has sensationally admitted to a "little skulduggery" in rigging the draw to ensure Brazil and France could not meet until the final of the 1998 World Cup, where he was organising committee president.
"We organised the schedule so, if we finished first in our group and Brazil first in theirs, the teams could not meet before the final," Platini told Radio Bleu Sport in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday, highlights of which the station tweeted on Friday.
The revelation comes at a time when Platini is banned from football for receiving a "disloyal payment" of 1.7 million euros, when he was head of UEFA from former FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
The draw took place in Marseille on December 4, 1997 and was presided over by FIFA's then-general secretary: Blatter.
"Look, we were at home, you have to make the most of things, we weren't going to go through the bother of six years organising the World Cup if we could not pull off a few little tricks," said Platini, a former midfield star for Saint Etienne, Juventus and France. "Do you think other hosts didn't do the same at their World Cups?"
A France-Brazil final "was everyone's dream", said Platini.
Not everyone was happy with the fairly transparent plan, though.
At the time, the selection process of top seeds for the eight groups had provoked accusations of a "European conspiracy" by then-Brazil coach Mario Zagallo.
Comments