In a shocking admission, former UEFA president Michael Platini said Thursday that he was involved in a plot to ensure France and favorite Brazil would not face each other in the 1998 World Cup until the final.

According to the BBC, Platini told radio station France Bleu Sport that the draw was fixed in such a way that France and Brazil could not meet before the final, provided they won their respective groups. And that’s exactly what happened. The two ended up squaring off in the championship match, with host nation France topping Brazil 3-0 to win its first and only World Cup.

“When we organised the schedule, we did a little trickery,” Platini, a former France team captain, admitted. “France-Brazil in the final, it was the dream of everyone. If we finished first in the group and Brazil finished first, we could not meet before the final.”

Platini was the co-president of the organizing committee for the World Cup at the time, and he claimed that host nations fixing the draw isn’t uncommon.

“We did not spend six years organizing the World Cup to not do some little shenanigans,” he continued. “You think that the other hosts did not do it for their World Cups? ”

Similar shenanigans caught up with Platini in 2015 when he was found guilty along with disgraced FIFA counterpart Sepp Blatter of ethics violations over an illegal cash payment.