Former football leaders Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini have returned to a Swiss court for a new trial on charges of fraud, forgery, and misappropriation related to a $2 million FIFA payment.
“I am hopeful,” Blatter, the former FIFA president, told reporters in German as he slowly made his way down a flight of stairs toward the court in Muttenz, Switzerland, appearing frail just a week before his 89th birthday. He steadied himself with the handrail and wished everyone a good day on Monday. Blatter arrived 10 minutes after his co-defendant, Michel Platini, the former UEFA president and FIFA vice president.
This is the second trial for Blatter and Platini, nearly three years after they were acquitted by three federal judges. The charges stem from a FIFA payment of 2 million Swiss francs (now $2.21 million) authorized by Blatter to Platini.
When federal prosecutors first announced the indictment in November 2021, they stated that the payment “damaged FIFA’s assets and unlawfully enriched Platini.”
The initial acquittal came nearly seven years after the investigation was revealed, which had removed both men from their leadership roles at FIFA and UEFA and ended Platini’s bid to succeed Blatter as FIFA president.
The second trial is expected to last four days, with a verdict from three judges scheduled for March 25. Blatter and Platini have consistently denied any wrongdoing, claiming they had a verbal agreement for Platini to be compensated for his advisory work during Blatter’s first presidential term from 1998 to 2002.
Federal prosecutors have requested 20-month prison sentences, suspended for two years. The trial takes place more than 14 years after the payment was made and nearly a decade since Swiss federal investigators formally opened their case.
Details of the payment emerged during the corruption crisis that rocked FIFA in May 2015, when U.S. federal investigators launched a sweeping probe into international football officials. Swiss authorities arrested several individuals in Zurich and seized FIFA’s financial records.
Blatter and Platini were acquitted in July 2022 after an 11-day trial at Switzerland’s federal criminal court in Bellinzona. However, the Swiss attorney general’s office and FIFA later appealed, leading to this new trial, which was delayed after Platini successfully argued for the recusal of federal appeal judges last year.
The trial opened on Monday at a cantonal (state) court functioning as a federal tribunal. It is being conducted in German by three judges from different cantons. FIFA was not represented in court, prompting Platini’s lawyer, Dominic Nellen, to question its absence and request the dismissal of FIFA’s appeal and civil claim.
FIFA has pursued a civil case to recover the 2 million Swiss francs, along with 229,000 Swiss francs ($253,000) in social charges and interest. Platini has stated that he declared the payment as income and paid taxes on it.
Neither Blatter nor Platini has worked in football since their suspension by the FIFA ethics committee in October 2015. They were later banned and failed to overturn these bans in appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in 2016.
Platini’s ban expired in 2019, while Blatter received an additional ban in 2021, months before his initial ban was set to end. Blatter remains exiled from football until late 2028—when he will be 92—due to an ethics investigation into alleged self-dealing involving eight-figure management bonuses tied to organizing the 2010 and 2014 men’s World Cups.
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