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Paris - French football legend Michel Platini said on Monday he will go to sports and civil courts in a bid to overturn an eight year ban ordered by FIFA.
Platini said in a statement sent to AFP that the FIFA decision was a "masquerade" intended to "sully" his name.
"Parallel to going to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, I am determined to apply, at the right time, to civil courts to obtain damages for all the prejudice I have suffered over very long weeks," Platini said.
A FIFA ethics tribunal banned Platini, a FIFA vice president and UEFA president, for eight years over a $2 million fee from football's world body that was authorised by FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
"This decision does not surprise me," Platini said.
"I am convinced that my fate was sealed before the hearing of December 18 and that this verdict is just a pathetic coverup for a desire to eliminate me from the world of football.
"On the football field and in the exercise of my mandates, my behaviour has always been irreproachable and I am at ease with my conscience," the former star player said.
