Michel Platini to speak at UEFA congress despite four-year football ban
Michel Platini has been given permission by FIFA's ethics committee to address the UEFA Congress in Athens this week despite his four-year ban from all football-related activity.
UEFA requested that Platini be allowed to speak at the Congress on Wednesday and has now announced that the request has been granted, a decision which it welcomes.
On the agenda at the Congress is the election of Platini's successor as UEFA president.
The 61-year-old Frenchman and former FIFA president Sepp Blatter were initially given eight-year bans by world football's governing body in December over a two million Swiss francs payment, worth around £1.5m at current exchange rates, made by Blatter to Platini in 2011.
That December ruling was reduced to six years by a FIFA appeal panel in February.
And in May it was reduced again to four years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) - but the Lausanne-based court backed FIFA's judgement that the payment was ''unfair'' and a ''conflict of interests''.
Platini released a statement at that point confirming he would be resigning and describing the CAS decision as "a profound injustice".
UEFA's statement on Monday said: "The FIFA ethics committee has informed UEFA that Michel Platini will be allowed to address the 12th Extraordinary UEFA Congress in Athens on September 14.
"A request for Mr. Platini's attendance had been recently made by UEFA and we welcome this decision.
"The agenda of the 12th Extraordinary UEFA Congress includes the election of the UEFA president."
