Both men were banned from football for eight years in 2015
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and former UEFA president Michel Platini have been acquitted of corruption by a Swiss court.
Criminal proceedings were launched into the pair after a payment of two million Swiss francs (£1.7m) from FIFA to Platini was uncovered in 2015.
At the time, Platini was the president of UEFA and a FIFA vice-president and he was expected to succeed Blatter as president of FIFA.
🚨 BREAKING 🚨
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and ex-UEFA chief Michel Platini are both cleared of corruption charges by a Swiss court pic.twitter.com/1oQxriLzXG
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) July 8, 2022
Both men were banned from football for eight years in 2015, but this was later reduced.
Swiss prosecutors had said it “was made without a legal basis” and “unlawfully enriched Platini” but the judge in their trial found them not guilty. Platini will now get back his two million Swiss francs.
Related links:
- Michel Platini accuses FIFA of making him and Sepp Blatter look like ‘fraudsters’
- Sepp Blatter unable to testify amid “difficulty breathing” at FIFA fraud trial
- Simon Brodkin: How I pranked FIFA and Sepp Blatter
