• Fifa president confirms there was no written contract

• Platini claims money was for unpaid additional salary

SEPP BLATTER has said that the £1.35m payment to Michel Platini that has led to criminal proceedings and both men being suspended by Fifa was based on a “gentleman’s agreement”, confirming the Guardian’s report on Sunday that there was no written contract documenting the money being owed to Platini.
Blatter was speaking for the first time about the nature of the transaction since being suspended from his job as Fifa president for 90 days pending the outcome of the full ethics committee investigation.
In an interview with the Swiss broadcaster RROTV Blatter said of the payment to Platini, 2m Swiss francs (£1.35m), which he authorised in February 2011, that it “was a contract I had with Platini, a gentleman’s agreement and that went through”.
Platini has said the money was unpaid additional salary from his job as Blatter’s adviser between 1998 and 2002 and that Blatter told him Fifa could not afford to pay it at the time due to the organisation’s financial position.
Platini said in his initial public statement that the money was owed according to “a contract” he had with Fifa at the time.
The Swiss attorney general, Michael Lauber, announcing criminal proceedings against Blatter last month, said the payment is suspected of having been “disloyal” to Fifa – a breach of Blatter’s position of trust as president – potentially amounting to “criminal mismanagement” or “misappropriation”.
Platini, Lauber said, was interviewed as a “person asked to provide information” – not as a witness, as Uefa said in its initial response. Fifa’s ethics committee is investigating whether the payment breaches rules, including constituting a conflict of interest, and whether it could amount to corruption. Both Platini and Blatter deny any wrongdoing. — Guardian

F1 boss backs Blatter

FORMULA 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone says Sepp Blatter should remain in charge of Fifa despite facing corruption charges.
Blatter, who is suspended, is under criminal investigation over a payment made to Uefa boss Michel Platini in 2011. Both men deny any wrongdoing.
Ecclestone said: “I don’t think he should have ever stepped down. I don’t think he should have been challenged. “If people allegedly have been corrupted to make things happen in their country, it’s good.”
The 85-year-old added: “It’s a tax football had to pay.”
Ecclestone, who was talking on Russian television, said the reason Blatter deserved support was “because of him we have a lot of countries around the world that are now playing football”. The 17-year Fifa reign of Swiss Blatter, who is suspended for 90 days, ends in February. In the past, Ecclestone has referred to women as “domestic appliances” and praised Adolf Hitler as someonewho “got things done”.
Ecclestone has run the commercial side of F1 for nearly 40 years and last year faced two separate trials on corruption charges.
A civil case in the UK was dismissed and he paid a German court £60m to end a trial in which he was accused of paying a German banker £26m to ensure a company Ecclestone favoured could buy a stake in F1.
Ecclestone reiterated a view he has previously expressed that “Europe is a thing of the past” and said he was “not very enthusiastic about America”.
About the US, he added:
“The biggest problem with them is that they believe [that they are the] greatest sort of power in the world” and that “they are a big island, so they are a bit isolated; they are slowly starting to learn what other people in the world do”.
The US Grand Prix is in Austin, Texas, next weekend with Ecclestone expected to attend. — BBC