UEFA president Michel Platini has revealed that he will be the next president of FIFA, despite being suspended by the world governing body.
The 60-year-old was banned for 90 days by FIFA's Ethics Committee while it investigates a payment made to the Frenchman by the organisation in 2011.
However, Platini has said that he will take the case to the highest court to clear his name, and will stand for election next year to replace Sepp Blatter at the head of FIFA.
Platini told The Telegraph: "I am, in all humility, the most able to run world football.
"The two million represents the equivalent of four years' salary arrears that FIFA owed me when I was the president's special adviser. The president himself offered me a contract and a salary that I accepted.
"So to be clear: was there work provided? Yes. Is an oral contract legal in Switzerland? Yes. Did I have the right to reclaim my money even nine years later? Yes. Did I produce a proper invoice as FIFA required? Yes. Was the money declared to the taxman? Yes."
The former French international also denied that the payment came from a black-box account at FIFA and that it was also not a bribe from Blatter.
The UEFA president added: "My approach has been totally transparent. I informed the people concerned at UEFA who took it up with the finance department at FIFA. My invoice was then paid up from a standard FIFA account.
"In the end the organisation that validated and proceeded with the payment suspended me four years later. These other allegations are not based on anything."
FIFA will vote for its new president on February 26, 2016 when current president Blatter steps down from the role.
Nathan Staples
