UEFA honcho says he’s keeping World Cup luxury watch despite FIFA warning

UEFA President Michel Platini is going to keep his luxury watch, even though FIFA wants him to give it back. Platini criticized FIFA for publicly rebuking football officials who accepted gifts at the World Cup, saying Friday he will donate about $27,000 to charity rather than return the Parmigiani watch given to him in Brazil. On Thursday, FIFA told officials they had until next month to return the Brazilian football confederation watch or face ethics proceedings for accepting a gift that had more than a “symbolic or trivial value.” Platini, one of FIFA President Sepp Blatter’s biggest critics, questioned why the governing body is only now making an issue out of the Parmigiani watches.

…If the ethics committee was not pleased, they should have told us that four months ago in Brazil, when we received the watches. They were aware that we were receiving these watches because everybody received them.

Michel Platini, UEFA President

"I was very surprised by the FIFA press release. I think that the best thing would have been to call us, to say that the ethics committee has done so-and-so and they’re not pleased," Platini said through a translator. FIFA also gave out watches at the World Cup, handing out about 750 Longines timepieces worth 180 Swiss francs ($191) each to delegates at its congress in June. FIFA said the gift value was "within the provisions stipulated in the FIFA Code of Ethics" — unlike the Parmigiani watches in the Brazilian gift bags at the congress.

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