Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter and ex-UEFA President Michel Platini have been cleared of corruption charges by a Swiss court, two and a half years after their initial acquittal.
The Extraordinary Appeals Chamber of the Swiss Criminal Court in Muttenz, near Basel, upheld their previous acquittal, rejecting the prosecution’s case regarding a 2 million Swiss franc payment Blatter authorized for Platini in 2011.
Swiss federal prosecutors had appealed the 2022 ruling, alleging that Blatter and Platini fraudulently claimed FIFA owed Platini money for advisory work between 1998 and 2002. However, the court ruled that their explanation—an oral agreement for the payment—could not be ruled out.
Platini, a former captain and manager of the French national team, had maintained that FIFA deferred the payment due to financial constraints at the time. The court acknowledged the consistency in both men’s accounts and applied the legal principle of favoring the accused in cases of doubt.
“It can not be assumed that the defendants acted with the intention of enriching themselves in the sense of the charged offences,” the court stated.
The case, which emerged in 2015, led to both men being suspended from football for ethics breaches, effectively ending Platini’s hopes of succeeding Blatter as FIFA president.
Following the verdict, Platini expressed relief, stating: “The persecution of FIFA and some Swiss federal prosecutors for 10 years is now over. It is now totally over. And for me, today, my honour has returned, and I am very happy.”
He also suggested that the case had been politically motivated to prevent him from leading FIFA but dismissed any possibility of returning to football, citing his age.
Blatter, now 89, appeared visibly emotional after the ruling, embracing his daughter Corinne. “It is a great relief for me because it’s been going on for ten years. It’s like a sword of Damocles hanging over my head,” he said. “And now it’s over, and I can breathe.”
Swiss authorities, who had sought a suspended 20-month jail sentence for both men, will now review the written judgment before deciding whether to escalate the case to the Swiss Federal Court.
