TheCable

Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, two powerful football figures, have been acquitted of fraud in a Swiss court.

Blatter, former FIFA president, and Platini, his vice, were both found not guilty of corruption at Switzerland’s federal criminal court following a two-week trial that ended on June 22.

The case is centred on a £1.6 million payment made by Blatter to Platini in 2011.

The Swiss office of the attorney general (OAG) had accused Blatter and Platini of “fraud, in the alternative of misappropriation, in the further alternative of criminal mismanagement as well as of forgery of a document.”

According to Swiss prosecutors, the payment was made “without a legal basis” and “unlawfully” enriched Platini.

But during the trial, Blatter said the money paid to Platini was a “gentleman’s agreement” for the job done as an advisor to the FIFA president between 1998 and 2002.

Blatter was in charge of FIFA for 17 years while Platini hoped to be his successor.

The fate of the pair was known on Friday morning via a verdict published by the three judges who presided over the trial.

Despite being cleared, the 86-year-old ex-FIFA president remains banned from football until 2028 for a different punishment in 2021.

Platini, 67, on the other hand, has served his ban.

Photo credit: GES-Sportfoto