BERLIN - France legend Michel Platini has spiced up the race for the 2006 UEFA presidency claiming his main rival, West Germany's 1974 World Cup winner Franz Beckenbauer, would have been better going for the post a decade ago.
"Beckenbauer is occupied with the World Cup until 2006 and after that he can do what he likes," Platini told magazine SportBild.
"But it would be a shame if he decided to run in the same year I am standing. He could have put himself forward for the post ten years ago."
France's 1984 European championship hero Platini is ten years younger than the 59-year-old Beckenbauer and hopes his UEFA connections - he is already a member of the executive panel - can help him replace Swede Lennart Johansson in 2006.
Beckenbauer, head of the organising committee for the 2006 World Cup, has long been touted as the next UEFA president and FIFA president Sepp Blatter has already backed the German for the post.
03/23/2005 11:18 GMT