Blatter says Platini would be a good FIFA boss

Jan 17, 2012, 14:14 GMT

Paris - Michel Platini would be a good choice to preside over the ruling football body FIFA, its current president Joseph Blatter said in an interview published on Tuesday.

Blatter told France Football magazine he is convinced the Frenchman will seek the top job in 2015 even though he has not made his intentions public.

'Michel Platini is ready if he wants to. He says 'I don't know yet ... ' but deep down he wants it,' said Blatter.

'Michel Platini would be a good president. Not the same president as I am, because everyone is different, but he would be a good president.'

The former playmaker Platini captained France to the Euro 1984. He was organizer of the 1998 World Cup and is president of Europe's governing body UEFA since 2007, on a second term until 2015.

Blatter, 75, reiterated that he will not run for a fifth term in 2015 after then 17 years as FIFA boss. Blatter and his organization have come under fire in the past year over corruption allegations and other issues, and Blatter has put himself atop a FIFA reform process.