MICHEL PLATINI will resign as UEFA president after failing to overturn his ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which cut his sanction from six to four years.

    Platini called the verdict a “deep injustice” and said he will now step down from the UEFA position he has held since 2007.

    CAS effectively removed Platini from world soccer by ensuring his ban “corresponds to the duration of a presidential term,” the court said in a statement.

    Platini’s current UEFA mandate expires in March 2019, and the next FIFA presidential election is due in May 2019.

    “This decision is inflicting me a suspension whose length will de facto prevent me — as if by chance — from bidding for the next FIFA presidential election,” Platini said in a statement.

    Leaving UEFA also frees him to pursue an appeal to Swiss courts and “establish my integrity in this case,” Platini said. Switzerland’s supreme court can overturn verdicts if legal process is abused but will not re-judge the evidence.

    The court ruled that Platini was guilty of conflict of interest for taking a US$2 million payment from FIFA approved by Sepp Blatter in 2011. The money was uncontracted extra salary for working as Blatter’s presidential adviser from 1999-2002, and was largely unknown until it was revealed by Swiss federal prosecutors last September.

    (SD-Agencies)