UEFA president Michel Platini has been fully supported by his European soccer's governing body and soccer and sports authorities of his country despite 90-day suspension by the FIFA ethics committee on Thursday.
The legendary Frenchman, who's questioned by Swiss investigators last month about a payment of 2 million Swiss francs (about 2 million U.S. dollars) he received from FIFA in 2011, was suspended from all football activities for 90 days earlier on the day.
UEFA, however, expressed "full confidence" in Platini and announced not to invoke statues requiring its highest-ranking vice president Angel Maria Villar to be appointed acting president.
"The UEFA Executive Committee saw no need, at this moment in time, to invoke Article 29(5) of the UEFA Statutes, pursuant to which the highest-ranking vice-president of UEFA may step in to assume the powers and duties of the President in his absence," read a statement posted on the European ruling body's official website.
"This is because the UEFA Executive Committee is aware that the UEFA President will immediately take all necessary steps to appeal the decision of the FIFA Ethics Committee to clear his name. Furthermore, the UEFA Executive Committee stated that there must be a very rapid final decision on this matter before the relevant bodies, in the interests of both justice and football.
"Finally, the UEFA Executive Committee expressed its full confidence in UEFA President, Michel Platini, and stands fully behind him," it said.
An emergency meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee will be convened in Nyon on Thursday 15 October; in addition, all 54 member associations of UEFA will meet at UEFA headquarters on the same day.
In the meantime, French soccer federation president Noel Le Graet said the former Juventus playmaker remains "the man of the situation," while Secretary of State for Sports Thierry Braillard told RTL radio that he still believes in Platini's "honesty, integrity and determination" to become the next FIFA president.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter, who was also suspended for 90 days on Thursday, was witnessed to have droven out of the compound where FIFA's offices are located on the outskirts of Zurich at about 7 p.m.
His twitter profile was also edited by the governing body to remove the reference to being president, though there's no tweet has appeared on Blatter's account since Friday.
