A Swiss court on Friday (July 8, 2022) exonerated former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and former UEFA president Michel Platini of all corruption-related allegations.
In the southern city of Bellinzona, the Federal Criminal Court exonerated Blatter, who oversaw FIFA for 17 years, of wrongdoing.
Platini, a former France national team captain and manager, was also acquitted of fraud.
The two, once among the most powerful figures in world football, had denied the charges against them.
Prosecutors had accused Blatter, a Swiss who led FIFA for 17 years, and Platini of unlawfully arranging for FIFA to pay the Frenchman two million Swiss francs (£1.7m) in 2011.
The scandal caused Blatter to resign from his position as FIFA president in disgrace and destroyed Platini’s chances of succeeding him after the scandal forced him to be suspended from football.
Blatter had said the payment followed a “gentlemen’s agreement” between the pair when he asked Platini to be his technical advisor in 1998.
Due to financial difficulties FIFA was experiencing at the time, Platini received a yearly remuneration of 300,000 Swiss francs (£257,000) while serving as a consultant between 1998 and 2002, according to testimony Blatter gave in court.
I want to express my happiness for all my loved ones that justice has finally been done after seven years of lies and manipulation. My fight is a fight against injustice. I won a first game.
Michel Platini
The rest of Platini’s one-million per year salary (£857,000) was to be settled at a later date, Blatter said.
Motives for the payment were unclear, although the two men met in 2010 and discussed the upcoming elections for the FIFA presidency in 2011.
When Blatter approved the payment, he was campaigning for re-election against Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar. Platini, then president of UEFA, was seen as having sway with European members who could influence the vote.
The payment emerged following a huge investigation launched by the US Department of Justice into bribery, fraud and money-laundering at FIFA in 2015, which triggered Blatter’s resignation.
Both officials were banned from football for eight years in 2015 over the payment, although their bans were later reduced.
Platini, who also lost his job as UEFA president following the ban, said the affair was a deliberate attempt to thwart his attempt to become FIFA president in 2015.
Platini’s former general secretary at UEFA, Gianni Infantino, entered the FIFA race and won the election in 2016.
Speaking following the verdict, Platini said: “I want to express my happiness for all my loved ones that justice has finally been done after seven years of lies and manipulation.”
He added: “My fight is a fight against injustice. I won a first game.”
