AS.com

UEFA president Michel Platini has not hesitated in responding to the allegations published by French magazine 'France Football' that Qatar's World Cup organising committee bought votes, including that of the Frenchman, in order to ensure it won its bid to host the competition in 2022.

"The France Football report is nothing more than a pack of lies", Platini told a foreign news agency.

"To believe that my choice to vote for Qatar 2022 was in exchange for agreements between the French state and Qatar is pure speculation and are only the views of those who write these lies."

The UEFA president also hinted that he may take legal action against the magazine, saying: "I won't rule out bringing anyone who doubts my integrity in the voting process to justice".

The report gave details of a meeting that took place between then French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Platini before the vote took place, in which they believe Sarkozy may have persuaded the UEFA president to vote for Qatar, but Platini rubbished the claims.

"France Football is not making any revelation about this [dinner] in today's article because this is information that I myself made public two years ago," he said

"President Sarkozy would never have allowed himself to ask me to vote for Qatar 2022 because he knows that I am my own man."

He added: "I have therefore made my choice independently, following a simple logic that I have always advocated: openness to countries that have never hosted major sporting events."