PARIS: UEFA president Michel Platini hit out at FIFA chief Sepp Blatter on Friday, saying the Swiss has stopped serving the cause of football.

“Sepp is not the president of FIFA anymore. He is FIFA,” Frenchman Platini, whose book Let’s Talk About Football was released this week, told sports daily L’Equipe. “Platini, Pele, Blat­ter, [former FIFA presidet Joao] Havelange must yield to the interests of football.

“One must not use football, but serve football.”

Platini, 59, has no regrets for not running against Blatter who is likely to secure a fifth term at next year’s elections.

“It was not the time. I do not regret anything. One day maybe. We will see,” he said. The former France great was re-elected as UEFA president in 2011.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2014