Michel Platini - World Cup Legend

Michel Platini is arguably one of the greatest French players to ever grace the world stage despite never having won a World Cup. Born in 1955 in Joeuf, France, Platini became a footballer renowned for his technical ability, reading of the game and amazing ruthlessness in front of goal making him one of the game's all-time greats. But above and beyond this he was also known for his intelligence and elegance, qualities that got to the hearts of fans.

Quoted as saying "I began by playing for the biggest club in the Lorraine region, went on to the biggest club in France and ended up with the biggest in the world", the famous number 10 made his first FIFA World Cup™ appearance in 1978 at almost 23 years of age. Unfortunately for Platini, France couldn’t make it passed the first round and headed home but not before Platini had scored his first World Cup goal against future champions Argentina.

Four years passed and another World Cup was just around the corner. This was the year that Platini would carve his name into World Cup history. Who could forget the France V West Germany semi-final when Platini held the hand of an unconscious Patrick Battiston as he was carried away on a stretcher? The French felt unjustly treated and later on Platini is said to have recalled ‘That night I went through a scaled down version of a lifetime's worth of emotions". But the French fought on and the teams drew 3:3.

Two years later Platini proved just why he was one of the world’s best players, leading his country to victory at the 1984 European Championships scoring a record nine goals in five matches, including 'perfect' hat-tricks (a goal with either foot and one with his head) against Belgium and Yugoslavia along the way.
During this time Platini was playing for Juventus in Italy, winning everything in his path including two Italian Championships, one Coppa Italia, one UEFA Cup-Winners' Cup, one European Super Cup, one UEFA Champions League and one Intercontinental Cup all while being the leading goal scorer in Italy and 'Ballon d'or' winner for three consecutive seasons.

But the beautiful game was to eventually take its toll on Platini who had been nursing physical injuries as well as emotional ones after the tragedy at Heysel in 1985 so by 1987 he decided to hang up his boots for the last time. He quickly went on to manage the French national side where he went on to give Didier Dechamps his first cap as well as pair up Cantona and Papin up front and for three years his team went unbeaten but when his side failed to make it past the first round at the European Championship tournament in Sweden in 1992, Platini stepped down as manager.

Platini now holds the position vice-president of the French Football Federation (FFF), and his brief of responsibilities continues to widen in the highest echelons of the sport.

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