Platini will be our guest, says Euro 2016 organiser

Michel Platini will be a guest of organisers and the French Football Federation at Euro 2016, according to tournament president Jacques Lambert.

Former UEFA president Platini is currently serving a reduced six-year ban from all football-related activity over a “disloyal payment” made by then FIFA chief Sepp Blatter in 2011. 

Platini appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport but conceded he was “sceptical” about his chances of overturning the ban.

But Lambert insists Platini, who has described Euro 2016 as his “child”, will be given a warm welcome at the tournament, which gets under way in June.

“We always work together,” he is quoted as telling beIN Sports.

“Of course, at the moment, he is prevented from fully performing his functions, but he is not prevented from continuing to focus every day on how we are preparing for the tournament.

“Whether Michel will return to the UEFA presidency and resume his responsibilities [remains to be seen]. If that is not the case, he will be a guest of the French federation and myself for the Euros, so he will be there.”

Euro 2016 opens with hosts France taking on Romania on June 10.