Uefa president Michel Platini's bid to be football supremo dead in the water
Frenchman waited five days to explain why it took nine years to be paid in full for dodgy consultancy work for Fifa
Call it an omen, a portent of even darker times to come. Fifa's corruption scandal has directly led to the cancellation of a soccer match, the raison d'être of the world governing body.
The annual showdown between Uefa and Fifa staff was ditched because both presidents of these powerful organisations are embroiled in a criminal investigation, a corruption case so grubby a dung beetle would pass it up.
The friendly was scheduled to take place in Nyon, home to the European governing body Uefa and its president, Michel Platini. But Platini was in no mood for a kickabout after he was spectacularly dragged into the Fifa graft scandal.
Any paper trail, any phone call, email, handshake or even Christmas card could be construed as guilt by association if not evidence of outright collaboration
Once described as the "breath of fresh air" needed to clean up the most powerful office in the game, he has long been pitched as the forerunner - to some a shoo-in - to succeed Sepp Blatter as Fifa president early next year.
But then Swiss investigators came knocking, declaring Blatter a suspect accused of making a "disloyal payment" of 2 million Swiss francs (HK$16 million) to Platini in 2011 at the expense of Fifa.
Both men deny any wrongdoing and said the payment was legitimate compensation for consultancy work carried out by Platini for Fifa between 1998 and 2002.
The former France player was quizzed by Swiss attorney general Michael Lauber, who said he did not "audition" Platini as a witness. Instead, "we investigated against him in between as a witness and an accused person," he said.