Football
Ian Holyman, France correspondent 9y

Zinedine Zidane and Didier Deschamps back Michel Platini for FIFA

France legends Zinedine Zidane and Didier Deschamps have both backed Michel Platini to be a success should he run for the FIFA presidency.

UEFA president Platini, 60, is expected to announce in the coming days he will put his name forward for the FIFA presidential election, which is set to take place on Feb. 26 next year. 

The former France international has already received support from a number of confederations, and 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 winners Zidane and Deschamps have now joined the chorus backing their compatriot.

"Michel would be a very good FIFA president," Zidane said. "He's the man we need, because he has done some good work already at UEFA. He's really the ideal man for this post."

Current France coach Deschamps added: "If there is a credible and legitimate person to fill this role, it's certainly Michel Platini.

"Football needs strong and competent people at its head. With everything he did during his playing career and today at the head of UEFA, you can say that there is him and then there are the others. But it's up to him to run for the presidency."

If Platini were to succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFA president, it would create a vacancy at UEFA that could potentially create a domino effect in German football.

Current German FA (DFB) president Wolfgang Niersbach has been touted as a potential replacement for Platini, but he has remained coy on his intentions, telling Sport Bild that "as things stand" he is not a candidate, adding: "We'll see whether that changes."

Should the 64-year-old indeed leave for UEFA, Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has already suggested German Football League [DFL] president Reinhard Rauball could take the DFB job.

Rauball, who is also Borussia Dortmund president, already serves as the DFB's vice-president.

"There's no question that Rauball would be a good alternative," Rummenigge said. "He's a proven expert who in the past few years has been doing his DFL job with a lot of tact, but it's up to the gentlemen at the DFB to decide."

Sport Bild suggested current DFL chief executive Christian Seifert could then be promoted to the role of a "commissioner," which would see him serves as both DFL president and executive.

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