PARIS -- Michel Platini will be allowed to attend the European Championship and could be officially invited to attend by UEFA.
The UEFA president is serving a four-year ban from football after being found guilty of ethics violations for taking a payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($2 million) from FIFA in 2011.
FIFA initially indicated the ban would prevent Platini from attending matches in an official capacity, with the Frenchman only allowed in a stadium as an ordinary fan.
But interim UEFA general secretary Theodore 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.
"The letter, signed by Mr. Eckert, says Mr. Platini can be invited in a personal capacity as long as he doesn't perform any official function," Theodoridis said at the Stade de France, which is hosting Friday's Euro 2016 opener between host France and Romania in Group A.
"This will be transmitted to our executive committee and then they will make a decision probably about an invitation for Michel Platini for the whole of the tournament. As for Friday, I do not expect he will be there."
Attending matches in the VIP areas, mixing with football and political leaders, could still give the impression that Platini is there in an official capacity while banned.
Platini's communication team told The Associated Press that the former France great does not currently plan to attend matches at the month-long tournament.
Platini was the chief organizer of the 1998 World Cup, the last major football tournament to be staged in France. The success of that event helped him gain the job at FIFA, which ultimately led to his sanction last year.
The race is now on to succeed Platini as UEFA president, with an election on Sept. 14 to complete his four-year term, which ends in 2019.
Slovenian federation leader Aleksander Ceferin entered the presidential contest on Wednesday at a regional meeting of 14 UEFA member federations in Moscow.
Ceferin, a 48-year-old lawyer, follows UEFA vice president Michael van Praag of the Netherlands in launching a campaign. UEFA and FIFA vice president Angel Maria Villar of Spain is another expected entry by the July 20 deadline.