Former FIFA heads Blatter and Platini cleared of fraud charges again

A file picture taken on May 29, 2015 shows FIFA President Sepp Blatter (Foreground-L) shakes hands with UEFA president Michel Platini after being re-elected following a vote to decide on the FIFA presidency in Zurich. [AFP/ MICHAEL BUHOLZER]

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and French football icon Michel Platini have been acquitted of fraud charges for the second time.

The decision was reached by the Extraordinary Appeals Chamber of the Swiss Criminal Court in Muttenz, located near Basel on March 25, 2025.

Blatter, 89, and Platini, 69, faced allegations including fraud, forgery, mismanagement, and the misappropriation of FIFA money.

The attorney general's office had previously contested an initial acquittal from July 2022, seeking 20-month suspended sentences.

Both men denied any wrongdoing throughout the lengthy legal process.

Their legal troubles originated from a contentious $2 million payment made by FIFA in February 2011, intended as a supplementary salary for Platini, who served as a presidential adviser from 1998 to 2002.

The investigation began in September 2015, coinciding with Platini's bid to succeed Blatter in an upcoming election-a campaign that was swiftly clouded by the federal probe.