Michel Platini ‘surprised’ by Fifa timing on watch controversy

Michel Platini has criticised Fifa over its handling of a controversy regarding 65 designer watches, worth over €1m, given to football administrators at the World Cup.

Greg Dyke, the Football Association chairman, was among those given one of the limited-edition Parmigiani Fleurier watches, worth €20,939 by the Brazilian FA during a Fifa congress in Sao Paulo that was dominated by corruption allegations and protests.

Like Dyke, Platini said he had no idea how much the watch was worth but the Uefa president railed at Fifa for failing to demand their return at the time they were distributed.

Platini said: “I was very surprised by the press release of Fifa. I think that the best thing would have been to call us, to say that the ethics committee has done ‘so and so’ and they’re not pleased.

“But if the ethics committee was not pleased, they should’ve told us that four months ago in Brazil, when we received the watches. They were aware that we were receiving these watches because everybody received them.”

Platini said that it was only now that the story had emerged in the media that Fifa was demanding their return. The ethics committee has said it will take no further action as long as they are returned by October 24th.

“Because there’s an article in the British press, all of a sudden Fifa says that they need to return the watches,” said Platini. “There’s something that’s very surprising to me in the way that this process has played out and I do not like that.”

The former France midfielder said that it was normal to “receive many watches” in his role, which were normally given out for promotional purposes. He said he had received “several” but was “surprised to see the value of the watch”.

Platini said he considered it rude to return gifts so he would prefer to make a donation to charity for the value of the watch but added that if he was asked to return it by Fifa he would do so.