A Swiss Court of Appeal has acquitted former FIFA boss Sepp Blatter (89) and Michel Platini (69), former chairman of UEFA, on appeal from corruption on Tuesday. This brings a (provisional) end to one of the most controversial legal fights in global football, which has lasted more than ten years.
In 2022, a Swiss court in the first instance was missing that evidence of corruption, despite a criminal investigation that had lasted seven years. The prosecutors did not accept that judgment, but have now also lost on appeal.
The case revolved a payment of 1.8 million euros in Platini that approved FIFA chairman Blatter in 2011 and who came to light four years later in a large American corruption study. The money was a compensation for advisory work that the French former footballer had performed for Blatter between 1998 and 2002, was the explanation of the men, who for years were among the most powerful drivers in football. However, a written contract for that alleged advisory work did not exist.
The ‘ethical committee’ of FIFA did not accept that statement and ruled that the payment was unauthorized. Blatter and Platini were suspended for eight years, a punishment that was later reduced to six years. An attempt to undo the suspension at the International Sports Tribunal Cas did nothing.
No contract
With that, the roles of Platini and Blatter were played in football, which they believe was exactly what competitors wanted to achieve the current FIFA chairman Gianni Infantino. First you are a legend, then you will be seen as the devil, complained Platini, who became European champion with France in 1984, in 2022 opposite a Norwegian news agency.
Then the Swiss justice delved into the case. That led to a criminal case in the same year, in which Blatter and Platini were accused of corruption. The men are said to have cheated FIFA by paying 1.8 million euros under false pretenses for not delivered.
But the charge did not stand in court. The court found that Blatter and Platini had not concluded a written contract for the consultancy work, it was plausible that there was an oral agreement on it. Even in the fact that Platini only asked his compensation for ten years after the delivered advisory work, the judge saw no evidence of corruption. After all, the Frenchman did not need the money immediately. Moreover, the FIFA had financial problems around the turn of the century.
A Swiss court came to the same conclusions on Tuesday. “Michel Platini must now finally be left alone by the prosecutors,” said his lawyer in a statement afterwards. Whether that happens is not entirely certain. There is still an appeal possible at the Swiss Supreme Court.