Former UEFA president Michel Platini gets green signal to attend Euro 2016

Paris, France: Michel Platini will be allowed to attend the European Championship. The UEFA president is serving a four-year ban from soccer after being found guilty of ethics violations for taking a payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($2 million) from FIFA in 2011. [caption id=“attachment_1073165” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Former UEFA president Michel Platini. Reuters[/caption] European soccer’s governing body had believed a clarification from FIFA ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert gave the green light to invite Platini to its tournament — which starts Friday — despite serving a four-year ban from soccer. But the adjudicatory chamber of the FIFA ethics committee reasserted the terms of the ban in response to the public interpretation by UEFA general secretary Theodore Theodoridis. However, Theodoridis says the governing body received a clarification from FIFA ethics judge Hans-Joachim Eckert on Wednesday afternoon, which said Platini can be invited to Euro 2016 games but that he cannot carry out official functions. Theodoridis says UEFA’s executive committee will now decide whether to officially invite Platini to Euro 2016, which starts Friday.