Banned Michel Platini confirms the end of his FIFA bid

Michel Platini has formally withdrawn his candidacy for the FIFA presidency and said he will dedicate himself to overturning his eight-year ban.

The UEFA president, banned by FIFA’s ethics committee from all football-related activity for eight years over a €2m Swiss franc payment he received from FIFA president Sepp Blatter in 2011, said he had originally received 150 declarations of support when he announced he would run but had now been forced to pull out of the election on February 26 – it is also unclear whether any appeal process would have been completed by that date.