Biggest Villain in World Football in September

Presiding over an organisation with as much football sway as UEFA is a job many would find unenviable, and Michel Platini had another month of ups and downs (mostly the latter) in September.

It was a month of matters both big and small, the most hotly discussed of which perpetuated from the new and enlarged version of the Euros, set to debut in 2020. Iain Macintosh of ESPN FC argues there was no need for this new 24-team setting:

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But it's Platini's decision to mess with the European championship that really rankles. What was it about the tight, tense, high-quality competition that offended him so? Four groups of four, the top two go through, the bottom two go home early and then there's a lightning knockout stage for swift death or lasting glory. What was so bad about that?

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It's a creation of Platini's design that some see as an abomination, of the opinion that what wasn't broken didn't need fixing, but the former French international went ahead and tinkered all the same.

West Brom media manager Chris Lepkowski debates the new spaces will make it far easier for Europe's existing powers to qualify, diluting the strength of those in the tournament finals:

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Platini's daft decision to expand the Euros takes the sting out of these qualifiers. The usual suspects (& many more) will emerge with ease

— Chris Lepkowski (@chrislepkowski) September 8, 2014"

As Macintosh hinted in his writing, Platini also announced in September that he would not be challenging Sepp Blatter for the FIFA presidency, perhaps his most positive decision of the entire month.

However, the president of UEFA still sees fit to comment on matters concerning FIFA and indeed his own European body, voicing his support for the controversial selection of Russia and Qatar to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, respectively.

Riccardo De Luca/Associated Press

The sinister gloom reigning over those selections for some years now has entered a new phase of alleged treachery after FIFA prosecutor Michael Garcia called for his investigation regarding the matter to be published, per The Guardian's Owen Gibson.

So, for Platini to come out in support of the two bids, speaking to German newspaper Welt am Sonntag (h/t ESPN FC's Stephan Uersfeld) strikes as slightly more odd:

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When we talk about Russia, my answer is this: there is a German embassy there, Lufthansa flies to Moscow. But it's not allowed to host the World Cup? I don't understand that. Politicians always look for the easy route. I am completely happy that I have given my vote to Qatar. That was my decision alone. In Qatar, and Russia, I opted for two countries that have never hosted a World Cup. It was the right decision for the development of football.

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One would think it's safe to agree that a country never hosting a World Cup before is not grounds alone to go ahead and award them such a global event, drawing yet more ire in his direction.

And FIFA continued to follow the organisation's vice-president when it was revealed in September that high-ranking members at the 2014 World Cup had been given watches as gifts—but were told to return said items for violating FIFA sanctions.

Lionel Cironneau/Associated Press

Platini wasn't having any of that, however, and was quoted by Rob Harris of the Associated Press (h/t Daily Mail) in saying: "If the ethics committee was not pleased, they should've 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. I don't return gifts."

The £16,000 timepiece, as far as one can tell, remains in Platini's possession, but not before Harris quizzed the Frenchman on just why he hadn't complied with FIFA's request:

Perhaps last month's most dislikable moment of Platini's, however, was something of a personal matter, where it was revealed he intended to fight against Franck Ribery's decision to retire from international football.

Per The Telegraph, UEFA's head threatened the Bayern Munich winger with a ban on the club level should he refuse to return to duty for the French national team in what was a sad and twisted form of personal vendetta. Nik Postinger of We Play comments:

It's all well and good for the UEFA and FIFA executive to make tough decisions and accept the flak caused by those choices, ones that he by all means has to make or nobody else will.

However, this was an escapade he took upon single-handedly, and as Geoff Shreeves of Sky Sports and BBC's Juan Arango suggest, he came out looking quite foolish because of it:

So, September threw up a selection of obstacles for Platini to contend with, and one can certainly agree there were more amicable ways he could have gone about combating each and every one.

Whether it's a matter of personal circumstance or that more all-encompassing, even worldwide, the UEFA president continues to show why he can be so hard to get along with.