Zurich: Banned UEFA President Michel Platini launched a vitriolic attack on the FIFA Appeals Committee on Wednesday after it upheld his suspension from the game for ethics violations.
Frenchman Platini's ban, along with that of former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, was reduced from eight to six years by the appeals committee, based on the mitigating factor of the pair's services to the game.
That gesture, however, did little to appease the former Juventus and France international midfielder.
“The decision… is insulting, shameful and is a violation of rights," Platini said in a statement.
"The charges against me are baseless, built from the ground up and surreal in view of the facts and the explanations I gave during the hearing," he added.
Platini has protested his innocence throughout the case which surrounded a two million Swiss francs payment from Blatter to him in 2011 -- nine years after the Frenchman completed his work as a consultant for FIFA.
He will now turn to the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in a final effort to clear his name and return to his role at the helm of the European game.
"I will go through all the possible appeals, starting with CAS. I will go to the end of my fight to show that I’m innocent," he said.
UEFA members have given consistent backing to Platini and have not scheduled any election to replace him, allowing him to fully use the appeals process.
But the ban has ended the 60-year-old's hope of becoming FIFA president and he will now not be able to attend Friday's congress which will choose Blatter's replacement.
Platini had strong words for the FIFA administration, suggesting it was out of control.
"This decision is actually a political decision made by the FIFA administration, a bureaucracy acting without a counter-power within an organisation that has confiscated the power of a century-old democratic federation," he said.
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