Michel Platini has officially resigned as president of European football association UEFA.

The resignation comes after a sports court had maintained but reduced the Frenchman's ban from football for ethics violations.  The Court of Arbitration for Sport had reduced suspended Mr Platini's six-year ban from football to four years, saying the original punishment from FIFA was too severe.

The Frenchman, one of the finest players of his generation and also a former coach of his country's national side, had said he recognised that his long, illustrious career in the game would be over if he lost an appeal over the ban.