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June 18 (UPI) -- Michel Platini, the former president of UEFA, European soccer's governing body, was detained as part of a corruption investigation over the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, French police said. Platini was questioned by police but was not arrested or charged with a crime, the French financial prosecutor's office told CNN and NBC News. He was taken into custody in France on Tuesday.
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"FIFA is aware of today's press reports concerning Mr. Michel Platini," the league said. "We don't have all the details about the matter [and] we are not in a position to comment further."
Platini led UEFA from 2007 to 2015. He and FIFA head Sepp Blatter were barred from the sport in 2015 following a corruption scandal. The two can be reinstated in 2023.
Platini was a soccer star from to 1972 to 1987. He won a bronze medal representing France in the 1986 World Cup.
The Anti-Corruption Office detained Platini as French financial prosecutors continue looking into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. The investigation is on the grounds of private corruption, criminal association, influence peddling and benefiting from influence peddling, according to NBC News.
Russia was awarded the 2018 World Cup. The 2022 World Cup is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 21, 2022 and will end Dec. 18, 2022.
