Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter And Michel Platini Receive Verdict In Corruption Case

On Tuesday, former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and French football legend Michel Platini were cleared of corruption charges by a Swiss court, two and a half years after they were originally acquitted of the same offenses.

The ruling came from the extraordinary appeals chamber of the Swiss Criminal Court in Muttenz, near Basel.

Blatter and Platini, who were once among the most powerful figures in global football, faced allegations of fraud throughout the lengthy legal process.

The hearing came about after Swiss federal prosecutors appealed against their 2022 acquittal at a lower court. Both men had denied the charge.

“After two acquittals, even the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland must realize that these criminal proceedings have definitively failed. Michel Platini must finally be left in peace in criminal matters,” Platini’s lawyer, Dominic Nellen, said in a statement.

The case related to a 2 million Swiss franc (£1.75m) payment Blatter authorized for Platini, a former captain, and manager of the French national team, in 2011.

The payment in question was a consultancy fee given to Platini for work performed between 1998 and 2002. Platini stated that part of this payment had been deferred because FIFA did not have the funds available to pay him in full at the time.

The scandal, which emerged in 2015 when Platini was president of the European governing body, UEFA, ended his hopes of succeeding Blatter, who was forced out of Fifa over the affair.

“The criminal proceedings have had not only legal but also massive personal and professional consequences for Michel Platini although no incriminating evidence was ever presented. Among other things, the criminal proceedings prevented his election as Fifa president in 2016,” Nellen said.