Michel Platini says he wants politics to play a lesser role at FIFA if he is elected its next president.

Platini is the front-runner to replace Sepp Blatter in February, and tells The Associated Press that with him in command, FIFA would be ''about football, not politics.''

He says FIFA's focus should be to care about the game, not political deal-makings.

However, Platini's critics have often accused the Frenchman of putting politics before football, especially when he voted for Qatar's World Cup bid after meeting with then France President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Platini also said one of the goals of the next president is to ''restore the image of FIFA'' and make sure it's free of corruption.

He says ''a good FIFA is like a good referee, nobody speaks about it.''

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