Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and ex-UEFA president Michel Platini have been acquitted again by a Swiss court on charges of fraud related to a $2 million payment.
The Extraordinary Appeals Chamber of the Swiss Criminal Court cleared the two on Tuesday March 25,2025, marking their second legal victory after a lower court acquitted them in 2022. This ruling comes after a 10-year investigation into the payment made to Platini in 2011.
“After two acquittals, even the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland must realise that these criminal proceedings have definitively failed. Michel Platini must finally be left in peace,” Platini’s lawyer Dominic Nellen said.
Blatter, who led FIFA from 1998 to 2015, was accused of making an unauthorized payment to Platini for work done between 1998 and 2002. Both men insisted the payment was based on a verbal agreement. The court found no evidence of wrongdoing.
Platini expressed relief after the ruling stating, “The persecution of FIFA and some Swiss federal prosecutors for 10 years is now over. My honour has returned, and I am very happy.”
Nellen added that the case had caused massive personal and professional consequences for Platini, including blocking his chance to become FIFA president in 2016.
Blatter and Platini were initially suspended by FIFA in 2015, with Blatter receiving an eight-year ban, later reduced to six years.
