Sepp Blatter wants to block Michel Platini FIFA candidacy – Sion president

Sion president Christian Constantin has told L’Equipe that FIFA chief Sepp Blatter planned to make sure Michel Platini would not replace him as the head of world football’s governing body.

The duo were provisionally suspended for 90 days by FIFA’s ethics committee earlier this month as Swiss investigators examine a 2 million Swiss franc (£1.35m) payment made to Platini by FIFA in 2011 for work carried out at least nine years earlier.

Both Platini and Blatter have denied any wrongdoing, although both have acknowledged that there was no written contract for the payment.

Constantin, who is close to Blatter, claimed the FIFA president was determined to hold power by blocking Platini’s bid for election as his successor in February.

“I was with him again five days ago,” he told the paper. “At the moment at FIFA, everything is caving in.

“It’s the end of Sepp in power. But he still doesn’t think it’s the end.”

He alleged that Blatter sought to block other candidates from standing for election before trying to “execute” Platini through FIFA’s ethics committee.