Michel Platini - More than a footballer
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| Michel Platini with Ballon d'Or |
Michel Platini is a French football player who played as an attacking midfielder during his career. Michel Platini is named as one of the best free kick specialists in history, and he is the principal architect of the successes of the French soccer squad and Juventus in the eighties. Michel Platini was a playmaker with a great vision of the game and an inherent instinct for goal-scoring. His incredible football technique and his talent to be a leader earned him the nickname of Le Roi (The King, in French language). He played football for French National Team during 1972-1987, and he had played 72 International matches and scored 41goals for his country.
Michel Platini was the winner of the 1985 European Cup with Juventus and the 1984 Euro Cup with France. During the European Football Championship of 1984, he scored 9 goals in 5 matches that made him the tournament’s top scorer of all time-a record which still stands today. Among his several individual awards is the Ballon d’Or, which he won three consecutive times (1983, 1984 and1985). He is regarded as one of the greatest football players of all time, he come in the sixth position in the “FIFA Player of the Century” vote, and he is also chosen on the “FIFA World Cup Dream Team”. In 2004, Michel Platini was named in the “FIFA 100” list of the world’s greatest living players.
A year after retiring in 1987, he became the coach of France’s national team. He ended his career as manager for France in 1992, when the team was eliminated in the first round of the 1992 European Championship. In 2007, he won the UEFA presidency, a position he holds until now.
Childhood and Early career:
Michel Francois Platini was born in Joeuf, in the Lorraine region in France in 21 June, 1955. He is the son of Aldo and Anna, both of the Italian ancestry. Aldo's family was an immigrant from Italy and settled in France shortly after the end of the First World War. Aldo Platini was a professional footballer and a long-time director for AS Nancy, the club where Michel Platini started his professional career.
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| Platini against Spain in Euro, 1984 |
Joeuf is a small town in the north-east of France. The son of a football coach, he took up the game at a young age, playing his first official match at the age of nine years old. With French football in the doldrums during the sixties and early seventies, as a youngster Platini idolized the Dutch soccer star Johan Cruyff and the Ajax team he was the star of.
Club career: Nancy (1972-1979)
Michel Platini got his start at Nancy, making his debut at the age of seventeen, and establishing himself as a regular in the seasons that followed. Platini was quick to make a big impression at his new club, scoring a hat-trick in a reserve team match against Wittelsheim. Further outstanding displays put him in contention for a place in the Nancy first team.
His introduction to the first-team squad was ill-fated. In March 1974, he suffered a setback when he continued a double fracture of his left arm. Michel Platini missed the remainder of the season as a result, and unable to assist his club “Nancy” in an unsuccessful bid to avoid downgrading from Ligue 1. The following season saw Nancy win promotion back to the French first division with no difficulty. Michel Platini became the team's most important player (he scored 17 goals on that season, a number of which were scored from free-kicks, as was becoming Michel Platini's specialty). “Saint-Etienne” was reigning in French league champions at that time, were knocked out of the French Cup with two goals from Michel Platini free-kicks.
Michel Platini helped his club “Nancy” to capture the French Cup in 1978, scoring the winning goal in the final against Nice, before moving on to Saint Etienne. He won the French league in 1981 for his club.
Saint-Etienne (1979–1982)
Michel Platini's played for three years at Saint-Etienne. These three years he got a mixed success. The club had signed him with a view to success in the European Cup, but despite some excellent results (including a 6–0 win over PSV in the 1979-80 UEFA Cup and a 5–0 win at Hamburger SV in the UEFA Cup the following season), the club were unable to surpass the feats of the Saint-Etienne side that had reached the final of the 1976 European Cup.
Michel Platini won the French league title in 1981, but was on a losing Saint-Etienne side in two French Cup finals. They lost against Bastia in 1981 and against Paris Saint-Germain in 1982 French Cup final, and it was his last match for the club before joining Juventus (Italian soccer club). He left for a nominal transfer fee (under UEFA regulations) despite being out of contract and no fee being necessary under French regulations at the time.
Juventus (1982–1987)
At Juventus, in a team featuring numerous members of Italy's victorious World Cup squad, Platini had a difficult introduction to Italian football. He was a target in the demanding Italian sports media, and even came close to leaving Italy in the winter of his first season. Back at Juventus from Saint-Etienne, Michel Platini led this Italian side to the final of the the European Cup for the second time in three years. The 1983 final had surprisingly been lost to Hamburger SV, but this time a 1-0 victory over Liverpool saw Juventus win the European Cup for the first time in the club's history.
He won the Serie A (Italian Championship) title with Juventus in 1984 and 1986, the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1984, the 1984 European Super Cup, the European Cup in 1985 and the 1985 Intercontinental Cup. Michel Platini had finished as top scorer in Serie A for three consecutive seasons (1982–83, 1983–84, and 1984–85), and won a hat-trick of European Footballer of the Year awards (1983 through 1985). He was also voted as “The Player of the Year” by World Soccer magazine in 1984 and 1985.
For his Country in the National Team:
Michel Platini was selected for the French junior team, but injuries prevented him from playing. He made his first appearance for a French national selection playing for the French amateur side on 26 September 1973.
Michel Platini began his military service in summer 1975. He was assigned to the Joinville battalion, as were all talented French sportspeople fulfilling their military obligations. Michel Platini would turn out for the French military team, in addition to representing the French under-23s and the French Olympic team.
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| Platini in 1986 FIFA World Cup |
Michel Platini was a member of the French football team at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada. Their tournament began on 19 July with a 4–0 win over Mexico. They registered another 4–0 win in their next match against Guatemala, with two goals from Platini. The French team completed the group stage with a draw against Israel, Michel Platini scoring from a penalty in this match. France progressed to the quarter-final stage, where they would face a full-strength East German team. France lost 4–0 and finished the match with nine men.
In November 1977, France got a 3–1 win over Bulgaria, in this match Michel Platini excelled in the role of playmaker and scored on a splendid 25-metre shot, and France secured qualification for the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina. It was their first appearance in the World Cup finals since 1966. In the month following the important qualifying match, Michel Platini finished third in the voting for the 1977 European Footballer of the Year. He also got French Player of the Year award in 1976, 1977.
World Cup in Argentina, 1978:
France played few friendly matches in preparation for the World Cup, one of that against Italy in Naples. That match was drawn (2–2), and Michel Platini was particularly significant in that match and other friendly matches.
France and Italy was in same group along with host, Argentina. Italian coach Enzo Bearzot, devised a successful plan to contain him in a match-up that really mattered-the first round of the 1978 FIFA World Cup four months later. Michel Platini was kept in check by cruel marking and Italy won 2–1. Drawn in a difficult group with Italy as well as hosts (Argentina was the host and the champion in that World Cup), France could not survive the first round. So, their World Cup mission was finished then.
Road to Spain '82 and the FIFA World Cup in 1982:
Michel Platini was nonetheless made captain of the French national side after the World Cup and made the number 10 jersey his own. One of his trademark free-kicks helped France defeat the Netherlands 2–0 in Paris (18 November 1981) in a crucial qualifying match for the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain.
France unexpectedly reached the semifinals of the 1982 FIFA World Cup where they met West Germany, and it proved to be one of the great matches of World Cup history. German goalkeeper Harald Schumacher had crashed with Patrick Battiston, leaving the Frenchman knocked-out cold, and the referee did not call a penalty, much to the anger of the French. With both sides level at 3–3 after extra time had been played (Platini having scored France's first goal of the game from a penalty) the match went to a penalty shoot-out which West Germany won 5–4. Michel Platini would consider this match the greatest memory of his career.
Euro 1984:
In 1984, Michel Platini led France as captain to success in the European Championship on home soil. His individual impact on the tournament was huge with nine of France's 14 goals in just five games (the top goal scorer in Euro '84).
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| Platini with the Euro Cup in 1984 |
He scored the winner in France's opening match against Denmark, and scored one "perfect" hat-trick against Belgium as France topped their first-round group with three wins out of three. In the dramatic semi-final in Marseille against Portugal, and he scored the final goal of the match for a memorable 3–2 win in the last minute of extra time. In the final against Spain, he opened the scoring with a free kick-goal. It was the first major title in international football for the French.
FIFA World Cup in Mexico,1986:
Suffering from groin pain and playing under injection, Michel Platini was not in peak physical condition for the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. However he contributed two important goals. The first contributed to their 2–0 defeat of defending champions Italy. The second came during the quarter-final match against Brazil. Careca scored first for Brazil in that match, Michel Platini scored the equalizer, his 41st international goals in on his 31st birthday, which sent the game into a penalty shoot-out. This goal was to be the last of his international career. France won 4–3 in penalty shoot-out, where Michel Platini terribly sending his over the bar. After losing a second World Cup semi-final in a row to West Germany, France had to settle for third place. Michel Platini did not take part in the 1982 or 1986 FIFA World Cup third-place matches.
Retirement from Soccer:
Michel Platini made his last appearance for France on 29 April 1987, in a European Championship qualifier at home against Iceland, before that match he was declared his retirement form football. In his 72 appearances for France from 1976 to 1987 (49 appearances as captain), Michel Platini scored 41 times, a record for the French national team, which has since only been exceeded by Thierry Henry.
Michel's last ever international match and last ever match of his illustrious career came on 27 November 1988 when he came out of retirement for one day to play in an international friendly match representing Kuwait at the request of the Kuwaiti Emir versus the Soviet Union. Michel Platini played a total of 21 minutes in the 2-0 loss to the Soviets. This one and only cap for the Kuwaitis put Platini in the history books as a footballer to represent more than one country at international level.
Coaching career:
Michel Platini was became coach of the French national side on November 1988. He was replaced Henri Michel, who had been forced out after France scandalously drew with Cyprus (1–1) in a 1990 World Cup qualifier. France's qualifying campaign was ultimately unsuccessful.
The focus of the team shifted to qualifying for the 1992 European Championship in Sweden. France excelled in the qualifying stages, winning all eight of their group matches, including notable victories away to Spain and Czechoslovakia. After a record 19-match unbeaten run, they were among the favorites to win the competition and Michel Platini was named Manager of the Year by the World Soccer Awards. But a string of uninspiring performances in warm-up matches, followed by France's first-round elimination from the tournament, and led Michel Platini to step down as coach.
Administrative roles:
Michel Platini was head of the organizing committee for the 1988 FIFA World Cup in France along with Fernand Sastre. He served on the UEFA Technical Development Committee from 1988 to 1990. He has been a member of the UEFA Executive Committee and European member of the FIFA Executive Committee since 2002. He continued to climb the ranks of UEFA and FIFA football administration and in 2006, became a chairman of the FIFA Technical and Development Committee, while also being vice-president of the French Football Federation.
UEFA presidency:
Michel Platini confirmed that he would run for the UEFA presidency in July 2006. In the election in 2007, he defeated Lennart Johansson, who held the post for the previous 16 years, by 27 votes to 23. Michel Platini based his speech on virtues of solidarity and universality.
Michel Platini has backed the idea of six home-grown players and five foreign players to be introduced in top-flight teams in Europe. He has stated that he wants to reduce the number of Italian, Spanish, and English teams that participate in the UEFA Champions League to a maximum of three instead of four. This rules is create a different routes were created for champions of smaller countries and non-champions of bigger countries. He has also talked about banning clubs from the competition based on the liabilities of the clubs. Among his more contentious claims is that international transfer of players under 18 is in fact a form of illegal "child trafficking" and should be prohibited by the EU.
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