Paris, Jan 7 (EFE).– Michel Platini, who was suspended last month from world soccer for eight years, said Thursday he was ending his bid for FIFA’s presidency to focus on his defense against corruption allegations.

“I withdraw my candidacy” for the Feb. 26 election, Platini, head of European soccer’s governing body, UEFA, since 2007 and member of FIFA’s executive committee, told French sports daily L’Equipe in an interview to be published in its entirety on Friday.

“I can no longer (go through with it). I have neither the time, nor the means to go and see the voters, to meet people, and to fight with others,” he said.

“It’s a matter of schedule, but it’s not just that. How do you win an election when you’re prevented from campaigning?”

In December, the ethics committee of international soccer’s governing body banned Platini, a former French national team and Juventus star, and outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter from world soccer for eight years.

The suspension imposed on Platini and Blatter includes all soccer-related activities at the national and international level and entered into force immediately.

The committee found that 2 million Swiss francs (around $2 million) that FIFA paid Platini in February 2011, a payment authorized by Blatter, “had no legal basis in the written agreement signed between both officials on Aug. 25, 1999.”

Platini, who – like Blatter – denies any wrongdoing, said last month he would appeal his ban to the Switzerland-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.

FIFA was rocked last year by a massive corruption and bribery scandal that saw dozens of soccer officials, mostly from the Americas, indicted by U.S. authorities. EFE