Suspended Platini hopes to be at Euro draw on Saturday

By Cecile Mantovani

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) – Suspended FIFA presidential candidate Michel Platini hopes his 90-day suspension will be lifted in time for him to attend the Euro 2016 draw in Paris on Saturday, he said on Tuesday.

Platini, head of European football’s governing body UEFA, said he did not like “injustices” as he spoke to reporters at a hearing at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), where he has appealed against his ban.

Platini, who until recently was seen as the man to lead FIFA out of its worst ever graft crisis, was suspended by FIFA’s ethics committee on Oct. 8 pending a full FIFA ethics investigation into his conduct.

Sepp Blatter, who has been FIFA president since 1998, was also suspended after being swept up by a crisis that has led to criminal investigations into the sport in both Switzerland and the United States.

CAS are expected to decide whether to lift Platini’s suspension by the end of the week. France is hosting the European championship next June and July and the draw which decides which of the 24 teams go into which first round groups takes place in Paris on Saturday.

“You know I don’t like injustices. So I hope I’ve been heard today,” Platini told reporters as he got in his car to leave.

Asked if he would be at the draw on Saturday in Paris, he replied: “Go and ask them (CAS). I hope, I hope.”

“They (the CAS panel) heard me well. Lawyers have been very good,” he added.

FIFA will elect a replacement for Blatter on Feb. 26. Platini, who has registered as a candidate, cannot run while he is banned, but might be allowed to take part if he is cleared.

Even a temporary reprieve from the CAS could open the door for Platini, although FIFA’s electoral commission said it would study the case depending on the timing.

However, FIFA’s ethics committee is due to make its final decision on the case, which could include bans of several years or more, by Christmas.

Earlier, on arriving, Platini said he would tell the panel “the truth, all the truth and nothing else but the truth. I swear it.”

The investigation centres on a 2 million Swiss franc ($2 million) payment from FIFA to Platini, a former France team captain and coach who has been UEFA president since 2002, in 2011 for work he completed between 1998 and 2002.

Both Blatter and Platini have denied wrongdoing.

(Writing by Brian Homewood in Berne; Editing by Richard Balmforth)