Reports have suggested that a deal was being hatched for Blatter to quit in 2013, rather than serve his full four-year term, and allow Platini - the number one candidate to replace him in 2015 - to take over earlier.

Unsourced reports of a deal were rumoured today ahead of a strategy meeting involving UEFA's 53 member countries in Cyprus next week.

But on his Twitter account, Blatter declared: "The existence of a 'deal' between me and Michel Platini for the presidency is pure nonsense.

"The suggestion that I intend to stop my four-year mandate before its end is simply ridiculous."

Blatter, 75, was re-elected unopposed in June after Mohamed Bin Hammam withdrew in the wake of the cash-for-votes bribery scandal.

Bin Hammam's appeal hearing against being banned for life takes place tomorrow with the outcome almost certain to uphold the original decision.

The 62-year-old Qatari then seems certain to take his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and maybe to the Swiss courts in order to overturn what he has long believed was an unfair ruling by FIFA's Ethics Committee.

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