Blatter and Platini cleared of fraud charges in Switzerland

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and France football legend Michel Platini have been cleared of fraud for a second time.

The former FIFA president and former UEFA president were accused of fraud, forgery, mismanagement and misappropriation of more than $2m (£1.5m) of FIFA money in 2011.

The attorney general's office in Switzerland had challenged a first acquittal in July 2022 and asked for sentences of 20 months, suspended for two years.

Blatter, 89, and Platini, 69, once among the most powerful figures in football, have consistently denied wrongdoing.

They were cleared of fraud at the Extraordinary Appeals Chamber of the Swiss Criminal Court in the town of Muttenz, near Basel.

Blatter approved FIFA paying 2m Swiss francs (now $2.21m) to France football great Platini in February 2011 for supplementary and non-contracted salary working as a presidential adviser from 1998-2002.

The Swiss federal investigation emerged in September 2015 as Platini was a strong favourite to succeed his one-time mentor in an upcoming election.

The probe kicked off events which would ultimately bring to an end the careers of football's most powerful men.

Though federal court trials have twice cleared their names, Blatter's reputation likely always will be tied to leading FIFA during corruption crises that took down a swath of senior football officials worldwide.

Platini, one of football's greatest players and later Blatter's protege in football politics, never did get the FIFA presidency he often called his destiny.