Former football leaders Blatter and Platini in court again over €2.1 million FIFA payment

The former football leaders Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini have arrived at a Swiss court on Monday for a fresh fraud trial.

Blatter, the ex-president of FIFA, and Platini, the former UEFA president and FIFA vice president, also face forgery and misappropriation charges.

The trial comes nine and a half years after Swiss investigators opened the case and two and a half years after the pair were acquitted by three Swiss judges over charges relating to a Blatter-approved FIFA payment of 2 million Swiss francs (now €2.12 million euros) made to Platini in 2011.

The two men have consistently denied wrongdoing, alleging they had a verbal agreement to eventually hisse Platini for non-contracted work advising Blatter during his first presidential term from 1998 to 2002.

The hearing — which is expected to last until Thursday — is being held at the Extraordinary Appeals Chamber of the Swiss Criminal Court.at the trial

The trial is being heard in German by three judges from different cantons. They are expected to give their verdict on 25 March.

Blatter and Platini resigned from their positions after details of the payment emerged during a corruption crisis that hit FIFA in 2015.

The revelation also ended Platini’s campaign to succeed Blatter as FIFA president.

When federal prosecutors published their initial indictment in November 2021, they said the payment had “damaged FIFA’s assets and unlawfully enriched Platini”.

Although the pair were acquitted in July 2022 after a seven-year investigation, the Swiss federal prosecutor appealed against the decision months later. The current trial was delayed after Platini won a ruling last year which ordered federal appeal judges to be recused.

Federal prosecutors have asked for sentences of 20 months, suspended for two years.

FIFA was not represented in court on Monday. Given its absence from proceedings, Platini’s lawyer Dominic Nellen asked the judges to dismiss the soccer body’s appeal and civil claim.

FIFA has pursued a civil case to recover the money as well as 229,000 Swiss francs (approximately €243,000) in social charges, plus interest.

Platini has said he declared the money as income and paid taxes on it.