I'll Not Return £16,000 Watch …Says Platini

Michel Platini

UEFA President Michel Platini insists he will not return a £16,000 watch given to him by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF).

Fifa has asked officials to return the watches handed out at the World Cup as football's governing body claims the gifts break its code of ethics.

But Platini, 59, said: “I'm a well-educated person. I don't return gifts.”  Platini also said Fifa knew the items were being handed out in June and questioned why it only acted now.

The watches were given by one of the CBF's sponsors to 32 associa-tion chiefs, 28 Fifa executive commit-tee members and five other members of South American associations.

“If the [Fifa] ethics committee was not pleased, they should've told us that four months ago in Brazil, when we received the watches,” Platini said.

“They were aware that we were receiving these watches because everybody received them.

“Because there's an article in the British press, all of a sudden Fifa says that they need to return the watches. There's something that's very surprising to me in the way that this process has played out and I do not like that.”

Several officials did report the watches to the ethics committee.

Frenchman Platini added: “I'm going to ask for the value of this watch and I'm going to give to a charitable organisation, a foundation, this value. But I can't return a gift.In my upbringing, I cannot return gifts like that.”

The ethics committee said in a statement: “The CBF should not have offered the watches, and those who received gift bags should have promptly checked whether the items inside were appropriate and, upon discovering the watch, either returned it or reported the matter.

The ethics committee said it would not instigate proceedings against officials who return the watches by 24 October.