Michel Platini could be investigated by FIFA’s ethics committee after he attended an awards ceremony in Dubai despite being banned from all football activity, according to Reuters.
UEFA president Platini, along with his FIFA counterpart Sepp Blatter, was banned for eight years by the ethics committee of world football’s governing body earlier this month.
The announcement of the ban — related to a two million Swiss franc (£1.35 million) payment made to Platini by FIFA in 2011 for work done nine years earlier — followed the imposition of a provisional 90-day suspension.
Platini is appealing against the decision and says he has done nothing wrong.
Ethics committee chair Hans-Joachim Eckert, announcing the sanctions, said Blatter and Platini were banned “for eight years from all football-related activities (administrative, sports or any other) on a national and international level,” with the bans coming into force immediately.
Platini faces investigation after attending the Globe Soccer Awards, organised by the Dubai Sports Council, on Dec. 27, where other guests included Lionel Messi and Andrea Pirlo.
The former France captain made comments to the Italian media about his ban during his time in Dubai.
An ethics committee spokesman declined to comment on the specific case, but told Reuters: “In general terms, the investigatory chamber of the ethics committee of FIFA investigates any alleged breach of the ethics code of FIFA.”
A spokesman for Platini did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the news agency.
FIFA has told the Frenchman he cannot bypass its appeals process by challenging his ban directly at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
He had been hoping to cut out the required FIFA appeals procedure as he races to try to overturn his ban before the Feb. 26 presidential election.
FIFA said it had written to Platini’s lawyers to confirm that he can only go to CAS if the governing body’s appeals committee first rejects his request.
