“Little tricks.” Platini admits that France tampered with the 1998 World Cup draw

Former French football legend Michel Platini admitted to his participation in the process of rigging the draw for the 1998 FIFA World Cup finals, which was held in the French city of Marseille on December 4, 1997 and was headed by the then Secretary-General of FIFA, Joseph Blatter.

Platini, who was at the time head of the World Cup organizing committee, indicated during an interview with Radio Blue Sport that he was part of the conspiracy aimed at ensuring that France and Brazil would not meet in the tournament until the final round, and in fact the two faced each other in the final match, and France won. With a score of 3-0.

Platini confirmed that they used “little tricks”, as he put it, to manipulate the draw and said, “We have organized the match schedule, so that if France takes first place in its group and Brazil also tops, the two teams will not be able to meet before the final.”

The former star of the Italian club Juventus added, “We were at home, and you have to make the most of things. We would not have endured the trouble of 6 years of organizing the World Cup if we had not been able to do some small tricks.”

1998 World Cup Final: Brazil 0-3 France 🇧🇷🇫🇷

In 1998, the French national team won the World Cup, which was hosted by France 1998. At that time, Zinedine Zidane scored two goals to surprise Ronaldo and his teammates.👏🏻 pic.twitter.com/YwuaAE8zrV

– Badr Bandar 💚🇸🇦 (@BadrJoudi) February 10, 2020

The final of France and Brazil “was everyone’s dream”

In order for France and Brazil to reach the final, which is a dream for fans of the tournament around the world, according to Platini, the Brazilian team was placed in the first group and France in the second group to ensure that they would not face each other until the final match.

Platini, the former player for the French club Saint-Etienne, said, “Do you think others do not do that? France versus Brazil in the final. That was everyone’s dream.”

On their way to the final, France beat Denmark, South Africa and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, then defeated Paraguay, Italy (on penalties) and Croatia in the semi-finals, while Brazil surpassed Scotland, Morocco, Chile, Denmark and the Netherlands in the semi-finals (on penalties) before losing in the final. The final 3-0 against the “Roosters”.

It is worth noting that Platini was banned from playing football because he received a “bribe” worth two million Swiss francs (two million dollars), when he was president of the European Football Association (UEFA).