and intelligent offensive midfield playmaker with a unique ability to read the game and bend the ball from set pieces he was known in particular for his ball control despite his lack of notable physical or athletic attributes it seemed that he would not be able to play at a professional level due to health problems Platini was born on June 21st, 1955, in Joeuf - a city in northeastern France. His parents, Anna and Aldo, were both of Italian ancestry. Aldo Platini was a professional footballer and a long-time director for AS Nancy At the age of 16, Michel Platini attracted attention in a tournament match with an impressive display for the Joeuf youth team against a Metz side liked Platini so much that they invited him for a trial Platini missed this opportunity due to injury and was not invited again because the Metz coach moved to another club Platini's talent didn't remain unnoticed for long This trial at Metz went horribly wrong when a breathing test on a spirometer caused him to faint The doctor's verdict on his breathing difficulties and weak heart ended any hopes Platini had of playing for his boyhood favourites He joined the reserve side of his father's club Platini was quick to make a big impression at his new club scoring a hat-trick in a reserve team match which allowed him to fight for a place in the first team Platini began appearing on the bench for Nancy's first team The wait was further extended by a bad ankle injury he sustained in one of the reserve team's other matches his season finished on a more positive note and he made his league debut against Nimes on May 3rd Michel Platini soon scored his first goal at the highest level. It was in a match against Lyon During the next season (1973/74), Platini suffered a setback when he sustained a double fracture of his left arm in a match at Nice Platini missed the remainder of the season unable to assist Nancy in an unsuccessful bid to avoid relegation from Ligue 1 The second league season saw Nancy win promotion back to the French first division with ease Platini became the team's most important player a number of which were scored from free kicks which was becoming Platini's speciality Platini stayed at Nancy for seven years. He even won his first major trophy with the team when they won the French Cup in 1978. Platini played a total of 213 games for Nancy, scoring 127 goals. In 1979, he moved to Saint-Etienne Platini won the French league title in 1981 with Saint-Etienne, but lost two French Cup finals. In 1982, Platini headed to Juventus The 1980s were a golden era for Michel Platini He won the Serie A title with Juventus in 1984 and 1986 the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1984 the European Cup in 1985 and the 1985 Intercontinental Cup It was already mentioned that he finished top scorer in Serie A for three consecutive seasons (1982/83 and that he won a hat-trick of European Footballer of the Year awards (1983 through 1985) Platini also shone in international football with the French national team Platini was a key player of the France national team that won EURO 1984, a tournament in which he was the top scorer and best player. Platini held the record for most goals scored (nine) in the European Championships (despite only appearing in the 1984 tournament) until being surpassed by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2021 Les Bleus with Platini then reached the semi-finals of the 1982 and 1986 World Cups he formed the carre magique (magic square) of the French team in the 1980s Following his retirement as a player in 1987 Platini became the France national team coach and was the co-organiser of the 1998 World Cup in France Platini did not leave as positive an impression as he did when he was a player on the pitch Let us instead highlight the fact that during his career Michel Platini scored a total of 354 goals in 650 matches he scored 41 times for France (in 72 matches) which made him the national team's all-time top scorer for a long time He was later surpassed by several players – Olivier Giroud (57 French national team goals), Thierry Henry (51), Kylian Mbappe (48 goals), and Antoine Griezmann (44) Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article Michel Platini (born June 21, 1955, Joeuf, France) is a French professional football (soccer) player and administrator who was named the European Footballer of the Year three times (1983–85) and served as president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA; 2007–16) Platini retired from the sport in 1987 as the country’s all-time leading goal scorer with 41 for his international career Two years later Swiss authorities indicted Platini and Blatter on fraud charges related to the FIFA payment