Soccer-FIFPRO denies offering role to former UEFA president Platini

The global players' union FIFPRO has denied offering any sort of role to former UEFA president Michel Platini, whose four-year ban from football for ethics violations ended in October. "In light of media reports linking Michel Platini to a role within our organisation, FIFPRO would like to put on record that no such position has been discussed let alone agreed by the FIFPRO board," said the union in a statement on Friday.

Platini was banned from football for eight years in 2015 along with former FIFA president Sepp Blatter. Both men denied wrongdoing. The ban was over a payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($2.07 million) made to the Frenchman by FIFA in 2011 with Blatter’s approval for work done a decade earlier. FIFA's ethics committee said the payment, made at a time when Blatter was seeking re-election, lacked transparency and presented conflicts of interest.

Platini's ban was reduced to four years on appeal by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and Blatter's to six by a FIFA Appeal committee. Platini, a former France captain who was one of the finest players of his generation, said in several interviews last year that he wanted a new role in football.

($1 = 0.9675 Swiss francs) (Writing by Brian Homewood Editing by Toby Davis)