August 29 – Swiss federal prosecutors have finally ended their case against former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and former UEFA president Michel Platini on Thursday after an astonishing 10 years and acquittals after two trials.
The office of Switzerland’s attorney general said it would not appeal against acquittals for both men in March at an appeal court.
The case centred on allegations of mismanagement, and misappropriation of more than $2 million of FIFA money in 2011 over a payment made to Platini for consultancy work that was sanctioned by Blatter. The first trial took place in 2022, with the payment of FIFA money to Platini emerging in 2015 during federal investigations of international football officials by federal investigators in the United States and Switzerland.
Blatter served as FIFA president from 1998 to 2015. He oversaw a complete transformation of FIFA from what was considered a ‘mom and pop’ business to one that made the organisation a political and financial juggernaut sought after by kings and presidents.
He also dealt with mounting corruption scandals, and his tenure will probably be remembered for the award of the controversial World Cup hosting to Qatar in 2022 – a FIFA executive committee decision he didn’t agree with.
Platini, a legendary French footballer who won the Ballon d’Or three times, transitioned from playing to football administration, serving as UEFA president from 2007 to 2015. He was instrumental in expanding European competitions and for many years was expected to the Blatter’s successor at FIFA before the corruption allegations surfaced.
The allegations were not proven twice in Swiss courts, but had nevertheless removed both men from office and ended Platini’s bid for the FIFA presidency as FIFA’s disciplinary committee has suspended him while the investigation was ongoing. That opened the door for his general secretary at UEFA, Gianni Infantino, a career football administrator, to win the FIFA presidential election in 2016. Aleksander Čeferin became UEFA president.
The investigations fundamentally changed the leadership landscape of international football, and ultimately, the case against these two giants of world football tarnished their legacies to the point where any type of comeback is seemingly out of the question.
Swiss prosecutors said on Thursday that by accepting the appeal court verdicts, it “is closing another chapter in the complex procedures related to football.”
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1756447968labto1756447968ofdlr1756447968owedi1756447968sni@r1756447968etsbe1756447968w.kci1756447968n1756447968
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