Michel Platini's lawyers say a memo published in a French newspaper on Sunday could help clear the suspension of the UEFA president’s wrongdoing.
Both Platini and Sepp Blatter are fighting to salvage their careers and reputation and are currently serving 90‑day provisional suspensions from world football.
It is alleged a 1.3 million pounds disloyal payment was made between Platini and Blatter in 2011.
The French newspaper claims the memo, which has not been seen by BBC Sport, was presented at a meeting of UEFA's executive committee in November 1998 and included a section that stated Platini was being paid 1 million Swiss francs a year for work he was doing for FIFA.
Blatter has previously said the 2011 payment followed a verbal agreement between the two while Platini claimed the payment was delayed because of financial problems at FIFA.
Both men are due to attend personal hearings with Fifa's ethics judge starting on the 16th of December and final verdicts could be published as early as on the 21st of December.
Platini, who had been widely tipped as Blatter's successor at FIFA, still hopes to be a candidate in the FIFA presidential election on the 26th of February.
However, he will only be entitled to enter the ballot if he clears his name in sufficient time prior to polling day.
Source: BBC
