Frenchman Platini urged to take over at Fifa

He fought on for a few days but in the end Sepp Blatter took the advice of Michel Platini.

The Frenchman, who is currently in charge of European football governing body Uefa, had urged Blatter to resign as the latest scandal engulfed Fifa last week.

"I told him to step down from Fifa because its image is bad and we cannot continue like that. He told me it was too late," Platini added.

But it seemed it wasn’t too late and Blatter finally succumbed to the pressure as reports that the FBI probe into corruption at Fifa is tightening the net around him.

And now Platini is being urged by French football chiefs to take over and restore some semblance of order to Fifa.

“We need to find the best possible candidate and for me its Michel Platini, who has led Uefa in remarkable fashion,” said Noël le Gräet, head of the French Football Federation, adding that the Frenchman was the only figure with the global stature to take over.

"He's been at the head of Uefa for eight years, which is not a small organisation. On a global level I don't see another candidate with a comparable capacity for such a post," he added.

"If he wants it, it's now or never," said Le Graët. 

Frédéric Thiriez, the boss of France’s football league added “Michel would be the ideal president for Fifa."

France’s minister of sport Patrick Kanner also urged Platini to throw his hat into the ring.

“Platini would be an excellent president. He has all the qualities but it’s for him to judge whether he’s the right candidate to get the institution of Fifa back on the rails,” said Kanner.

Despite the support, Platini himself is thought to be less than keen to take over from Blater, especially with Fifa in such a mess.

In a previous interview with the French press, he dismissed the possibility of putting his name forward, suggesting he would prefer to stay on as head of Uefa.

“Football is in Europe and I am a football man.”