It is widely accepted that without the support of the former French captain that Qatar would not have won its bid to host the event, which started today with the hosts losing 2-0 to Ecuador.

But, with Platini now out in the cold following a series of corruption allegations, Qatar appears to have distanced itself from him.

"I have not received any invitation, except from many media outlets, and I have no intention of going there," Platini, one of the greatest players in history, told French newspaper L'Équipe.

Platini has acknowledged publicly he had lunch with then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the current Emir of Qatar and then an International Olympic Committee member, in November 2010, less than a fortnight before the FIFA vote for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosts.

At the time, France was seeking strong economic links with mega-wealthy Qatar, and Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), the club Sarkozy supports, were in decline and financial difficulties.

Platini has said he understood Sarkozy wanted him to use his vote for Qatar but denied that he was influenced.

"I knew Sarkozy wanted the people from Qatar to buy PSG," he said.

"I understood that Sarkozy supported the candidature of Qatar."

The then FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, has said Platini told him he had changed his vote from the United States to Qatar after the lunch, and that a decisive three further European FIFA Executive Committee members switched their votes to Qatar.

Platini admitted in 2015, when he was a candidate to replace Blatter as President, that he "might have told" US officials previously that he would vote for their bid, but he has denied changing his mind because of the lunch.

Platini, who scored 41 goals in 72 appearances for France, has subsequently claimed he made his mind up to vote for Qatar before the lunch.

His son, Laurent, in 2012 joined the Qatar sportswear company Burrda, owned by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), as the chief executive, which Platini has always denied had anything to do with his vote, or represented a conflict of interest.

After Qatar's shock victory in the FIFA vote, QSI did buy PSG in 2011, and the Qatar sovereign fund has since funded the Ligue 1 club to a massive degree, turning them into one of Europe’s leading teams.

Links between France and Qatar have also grown since the FIFA World Cup vote.

In 2011 Qatar Airways bought 50 A320 neo-family planes made by Airbus at its factory in Toulouse.

In June 2019, Platini was detained in connection with a criminal investigation into alleged corruption relating to FIFA's decision to host the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Platini and Blatter were banned from football activities in 2015 after Platini was paid CHF2 million (£1.8 million/$2.1 million/€2 million) by FIFA in 2011.

Both men claimed it was in payment for Platini's work as a FIFA football adviser, which he had finished nine years earlier in 2002.

In July this year, Platini and Blatter were cleared of criminal charges by the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona in Switzerland.

The Public Ministry of the Swiss Confederation has since appealed the decision and the pair are now set to face re-trial.