Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and renowned French football player Michel Platini have been exonerated of corruption charges linked to allegations of fraud involving the global football organisation.
On Tuesday, an appeals court in Muttenz, near Basel, Switzerland, absolved the two of any wrongdoing concerning Blatter’s payment of 2 million Swiss francs (£1.6 million) to Platini in 2011. Both individuals have persistently denied any misconduct. The two were initially found not guilty of fraud in 2022, but Swiss federal prosecutors appealed the verdict.
This lengthy case originated in 2015 when FIFA was engulfed in fraud and corruption allegations, culminating in a dramatic raid in Zurich stemming from a separate investigation by the US. The scandal, which is the largest in football history, revealed collusion between officials from governing bodies and sports marketing executives, resulting in crimes such as fraud, bribery, racketeering, and money laundering.
Subsequently, Swiss prosecutors charged Blatter, now 89, and Platini, 69, with misleading FIFA regarding the payment to Platini, alleging forgery and fraud, claiming that the payment lacked legal justification.
Consequently, Blatter resigned, and Platini’s ambitions of succeeding him as FIFA’s head were dashed.
Both men maintained that the transaction was a delayed payment for advisory services that Platini had rendered to FIFA, as he had previously presided over UEFA, the European football governing body.
During his testimony in the initial trial, Blatter stated that he had requested Platini to act as his adviser in 1998. He also said that FIFA could not meet Platini’s request for an annual fee of 1 million Swiss francs at that time. Instead, they settled on a lower annual fee of 300,000 francs, with the remainder to be paid later.
