UEFA chiefs to hold emergency talks over backing for candidate to succeed FIFA president Sepp Blatter

UEFA chiefs are set to hold emergency talks on Monday
Michel Platini's 90-day suspension is likely to be extended
The FIFA presidential election will take place in February 

UEFA chiefs will hold emergency talks on Monday to decide whether to remain loyal to Michel Platini and have 24 hours to decide if they should back an alternative candidate to succeed FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

With Platini's 90-day suspension likely to be extended by ethics investigators before the February election, Uefa have to decide whether to shoehorn Dutch FA boss Michael van Praag into the race or do a deal with a non-European candidate. Britain's Fifa vice-president David Gill is expected to take part in the 11th hour conference call.

The options are limited. Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan, who Uefa backed last May as the anti-Blatter candidate, has ruffled too many European feathers with a series of harsh attacks on Platini. Asian football chief Sheikh Salman of Bahrain, who is expected to enter the race, has been accused of human rights violations back home.


UEFA president Michel Platini is currently suspended from football-related activity for 90 days

The only current eligible European contender is former Fifa employee Jerome Champagne but he is seen as a prodigy of Blatter. Heaping even more embarrassment on Uefa is the fact that Platini's temporary stand-in, Spain's Angel Villar Llona, is awaiting sentence himself after being investigated over the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process.

'This is a seriously worrying situation for Europe,' said one Uefa executive committee member on Saturday night. 'We desperately need to decide on a strategy. There's no point in van Praag standing unless we know he has the support of other confederations as well as Europe. We risk being seriously left behind.'

Gambling on Platini clearing his name is rapidly losing momentum amid growing signs that the Uefa chief may never return. Platini is appealing against his provisional suspension for receiving £1.3m in 2011 for undeclared work carried out nine years earlier when he was Blatter's adviser.

Uefa are pushing for the appeals process to be cleared up by mid-November but that could backfire if the Frenchman is banned for even longer. 'Even if he is cleared, it will be far harder and take far longer to appeal against a ban of several years,' said one high-ranking Fifa ethics source on Saturday night.


Platini (left) pictured alongside FIFA president Sepp Blatter (right) during a World Cup match last year

Pressure is also growing on ethics investigators to take action against German organisers of the 2006 World Cup following allegations that a slush fund was set up to buy votes.

Germany, who beat South Africa 12-11 in the ballot with England gaining just two votes after a £10m campaign, has denied any wrongdoing.

But Theo Zwanziger, until recently a member of Fifa's top brass, says those in charge at the time are now lying. 'Without a doubt there was a slush fund linked to the German World Cup application,' Zwanziger told Der Spiegel, adding that he believed the leadership at the time had known about it since 2005.

Reinhard Rauball, the German league president, said 2006 organisers had to come clean: 'For the league and for me personally it is crucial that everything is clarified in full. It is imperative for all of German football that the whole truth comes out, even if it should lead to painful discoveries.'