Platini

Michel Platini’s own voice is at the centre of Platini, the French documentary series written and directed by Guillaume Priou. Made in 2026 as six episodes of around thirty minutes, it places the former footballer’s account alongside testimony from teammates and opponents. Its trajectory spans the different roles he has held, from number ten on the pitch to an official within sporting institutions.

The narrative returns to his arrival at Juventus in 1982 and the difficulties of his first months in Italy, then to the places where he grew up: Jœuf in Lorraine, his father Aldo and the family café. Present-day visits alternate with material from the past. Learning the game enters the biography through people, everyday surroundings and memories, before the list of trophies.

Nancy, Saint-Étienne and Turin mark his club career, while the French national team leads the story through the 1978, 1982 and 1986 World Cups and the 1984 European Championship. Matches intertwine with relationships between players and press responses. The Juventus period also includes the Heysel tragedy: the sporting career is recounted alongside the public events that intersected with it.

Present-day interviews, television archives, photographs and newspapers provide the material for the narrative. Its contributors include Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Zico, Didier Deschamps, Marco Tardelli and Zbigniew Boniek, who bring different experiences of the player and his era. In an interview with Le Journal du Dimanche, Priou described his intention to make a documentary centred on sport and images, also discussing research in the INA’s archive collections.

The final part moves from retirement to his time as France’s national coach, the organisation of the 1998 World Cup and the UEFA presidency. The settings and forms of public exposure change: international football’s institutions join the pitches and dressing rooms. Platini’s voice remains that of a participant looking back on his own trajectory, including the events surrounding his institutional career.

Produced by Chengyu Prod for Canal+, the series credits François Benichou, Laurent Armillei and Guillaume Priou as its creators. Its world premiere at CANNESERIES on 26 April 2026 presented two episodes and a conversation with Platini moderated by Hervé Mathoux. The serial format spreads this biography across personal memory and chapters in French and Italian football history.