Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and French football legend Michel Platini have both been cleared of corruption charges by a Swiss court.
Blatter, who led FIFA for 17 years, was cleared of the fraud charge by the Federal Criminal Court of Bellinzona. Platini, former captain and coach of the French national team, was also acquitted of the same charge.
The two, once among the most powerful figures in world football, have always denied the accusations against them.
Prosecutors had accused Blatter and Platini of illegally arranging for FIFA to pay the former French champion two million Swiss francs in 2011. These allegations ended Blatter’s reign as FIFA president and destroyed Platini’s hopes of succeeding him.
Blatter, now 86, argued that the payment of two million francs followed a “gentlemen’s agreement” between the two when he asked Platini to be his technical advisor in 1998. Platini, 67, worked as a consultant for the Fifa between 1998 and 2002 with an annual salary of 300,000 Swiss francs, the maximum the World Football Association could afford due to financial problems the organization had at the time, Blatter told the court. The rest of Platini’s 1 million annual salary was to be paid later, the former president continued.
When Blatter approved the payment, he was campaigning for his re-election against Mohamed bin Hammam of Qatar. Platini, then UEFA president, was seen as influential on the European members who could determine the vote.