THREAT TO FOOTBALL

The UEFA president Michel Platini has said that soccer betting and match fixing have emerged as major threats to the team in recent years.

There have been several incidents of racism and crowd violence affecting the image of the sport in recent years, but Platini thinks that match fixing and soccer betting have an even bigger role to play when it comes to damaging the image of the sport. He has said that football will be dead when people go into the match already knowing the result. Match fixing has become a major incident in areas like Italy.

Recently, the AC Milan midfielder Kevin Prince Boetang decided to walk off from the pitch after being subjected to racial abuse. Platini has said that it is a wonderful gesture from the midfielder and he would like to congratulate him personally. When asked about the impact of doping in football, Platini has refused to rule out a threat from the source. Recently, the cyclist Lance Armstrong admitted that he used several doping techniques in order to gain an unfair advantage over the rivals on his way to 7 world championship titles. Platini, meanwhile, refused to say whether he will be in the running for the FIFA presidency.

"Racism, violence do not affect just soccer but the public. On the other hand, we are directly concerned by match-fixing. For me, this is the big shame. If tomorrow, we go watch a game already knowing the outcome, football is dead. It was wonderful. I really liked it a lot. I even called AC Milan to congratulate them. In 2010 in South Africa, the temperature was five degrees at 5 p.m. It was a celebration but I did not see anything ... We have to play the World Cup at the best moment to stage the World Cup," said Michel Platini.