Michel Platini (France, Juventus) - 1983, 1984, 1985

Michel François Platini (born 21 June 1955) is a French former football player, manager and administrator. As the president of UEFA in 2015 he was banned from football, over ethics violations.^[3] Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1983, 1984 and 1985,^[4] and came sixth in the FIFA Player of the Century vote.^[5] In recognition of his achievements, he was named Chevalier of the Legion of Honour in 1985 and became Officier in 1988.
During his career, Platini played for the clubs Nancy, Saint-Étienne, and Juventus. Nicknamed Le Roi (The King) for his ability and leadership. Despite primarily serving as an advanced midfield playmaker, he was a prolific goalscorer; he won the Serie A capocannoniere award three consecutive times between 1983 and 1985, and was the top scorer of Juventus's victorious 1984–85 European Cup campaign.^[6] Platini was a key player of the France national team that won the 1984 European Championship, a tournament in which he was the top scorer and best player, and reached the semi-finals of the 1982 and 1986 World Cups. Together with the midfielders Alain Giresse, Luis Fernández and Jean Tigana, he formed the carré magique (magic square) of the French team in the 1980s. Platini was his country's record goalscorer until 2007, and holds the record for most goals (9) scored in the European Championship despite only appearing in the victorious 1984 edition.^[6]
Following his retirement as a player, Platini was the France national team coach for four years, and was the co-organizer of the 1998 World Cup in France. In 2007, he was elected as the president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). He was the first former player to become UEFA President. He also held the positions of chairman of FIFA's Technical and Development Committee and vice-president of the French Football Federation. In 2015, however, he was banned from football administration for conflict of interest by the FIFA Ethics Committee.

At Juventus, Platini inherited the number 10 shirt from the recently departed Liam Brady.^[9][10] In a team featuring numerous members of Italy's victorious World Cup squad, Platini had a difficult introduction to Italian football. He was a target in the demanding Italian sports media, and even came close to leaving Italy in the winter of his first season. Platini and teammate Zbigniew Boniek successfully called for a change in tactics, and in the second half of the season Juventus saw an upturn in their fortunes. They reached the European Cup final, losing to Hamburger SV, but won the Italian Cup, the first of many club honours to follow for Platini in the coming seasons.

He won the Serie A title with Juventus in 1984 and 1986, the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1984 (setting up Vignola's opening goal in the Turin club's 2–1 victory over Porto in the final of the competition),^[12][13] the 1984 European Super Cup, the European Cup in 1985 and the 1985 Intercontinental Cup. He finished top scorer in Serie A for three consecutive seasons (1982–83, 1983–84, and 1984–85), and won a hat-trick of European Footballer of the Year awards (1983 through 1985). He was also voted Player of the Year by World Soccer magazine in 1984 and 1985.

The 1985 European Cup final against Liverpool at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels should have been the crowning moment of Platini's Juventus career, but was instead overshadowed by the Heysel Stadium disaster in which 39 people died, and 600 more were injured. It was decided to proceed with the match in order to avoid inciting any further trouble, and after both captains had appealed for calm, the match began just under an hour and a half beyond schedule, with riot police still engaged in a pitched battle with Juventus fans. Platini scored the only goal of the match from a penalty kick, which had been controversially awarded for a foul just outside the area on Zbigniew Boniek, after the Frenchman had met his run behind the defence towards goal with a long ball.^[15] In the days following the final, Platini was criticised in some quarters for his lack of restraint in celebrating Juventus' win. In his own defence, Platini maintained that he had not been made fully aware of the scale of the disaster. In the 1985 Intecontinental Cup final against Argentinos Juniors, Platini scored from a penalty during regulation time, also having another goal disallowed, and later assisted Michael Laudrup's equaliser; he subsequently netted the match-winning penalty in the resulting shoot-out, and was named Man of the Match.^[16][17][18] Following the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, Platini spent another season at Juventus before retiring from football in June 1987.