Michel Platini has said he is "hurt" after he was detained for questioning ©Getty Images

Former UEFA President Michel Platini has claimed he is "hurt" after he was detained for questioning over the awarding of the 2022 FIFA World Cup to Qatar.

Platini was released in the early hours of this morning after he was taken in by the Anti-Corruption Office of the Judicial Police in Paris.

The former France international and three times Ballon d'Or winner was questioned on "technical grounds", according to his lawyer William Bourdon.

The 63-year-old, who denies wrongdoing, was detained along with two aides of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy before he was released without charge.

Platini was taken to be questioned in Nanterre, a western suburb of Paris, yesterday morning. 

Sophie Dion, Sarkozy's then sports adviser, and Claude Gueant, the former secretary general of the Elysee, were also quizzed, according to the French newspaper Le Monde.

Platini told reporters following his release that he was asked about "Euro 2016, the World Cup in Russia, the World Cup in Qatar, Paris Saint Germain, FIFA".

"It was very long, given the number of questions, it was obviously always going to be long," he said.

"I arrived and was immediately taken into custody. 

"It hurts. 

"It hurts for everything I can think of, everything I’ve done.

"It hurts, it hurts.

"But after all, they did their job and then we tried to answer all the questions."

The former UEFA President was released in the early hours of this morning ©Getty Images
The former UEFA President was released in the early hours of this morning ©Getty Images

Platini added: "I replied to all the questions calmly, whilst still not knowing why I was there.

"I feel totally foreign to any of these matters. 

"This is an old affair, you know it, we explained it. 

"I have always expressed myself with full transparency in all the newspapers."

Authorities are looking into the process which led to the Gulf nation winning its bid for the tournament amid allegations of corruption and bribery.

The former France international and three-times Ballon d'Or winner led UEFA from 2007 to 2015 before he was banned for the "disloyal" payment of CHF2 million (£1.5 million/$2 million/€1.8 million) made to him by former FIFA President Sepp Blatter.

Platini voted for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup following a meeting two weeks before the vote in Zürich with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, and then-French President Sarkozy.

He consistently claimed the meeting had not influenced his choice, although Blatter accuses the Frenchman of reneging on a "gentleman's agreement" they had for the 2022 tournament to be awarded to the United States.