Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and ex-UEFA chief Michel Platini will both soon be back in court. The duo were previously among the most powerful figures in the entire sport. Blatter served as the eighth President of FIFA between 1998 to 2015. Platini, on the other hand, was once in charge of UEFA from 2007 to 2015. The Frenchman was also a star player throughout the 1970s and 80s.
Both executives were abruptly forced out of their roles at the same time due to ethics issues. Swiss authorities heavily investigated a $2.1 million payment authorized by Blatter to Platini in 2011. The funds were supposedly for work from the UEFA boss when he was a member of FIFA/UEFA committees years earlier.
The investigation, in which the duo were found guilty of ethics violations, resulted in them being banned from the sport. Platini’s ban expired in 2023, but Blatter’s suspension remains in place until 2027.
A further investigation, however, created more legal issues for the pair. Outside of losing their positions, Blatter and Platini picked up charges of fraud, embezzlement, and other corruption claims. Nevertheless, authorities cleared the duo of these charges in 2022. Juries acquitted the two in separate court cases.
Despite being cleared of the previous charges, both Blatter and Platini have to face an appeal trial in March. The aforementioned $2.1 million payment between the two powerful figures remains the key point of contention. Prosecutors believe that the timing of the transaction was particularly interesting.
Blatter was essentially campaigning for FIFA re-election against Mohamed bin Hammam at the time. Authorities claim that the former FIFA president rewarded Platini due to his position in power with UEFA. Platini, directly because of the payment, could influence other European members to vote in Blatter’s favor. Bin Hammam later dropped out of the 2011 race and Blatter went unopposed.
Blatter and Platini previously claimed that they had a verbal agreement in 1998. The latter would earn around $1 million if Blatter won the election as FIFA President. Former judges in the case, however, did not exactly buy the story.
Blatter and Platini eventually picked up replacements at the helms of FIFA and UEFA in the form of Gianni Infantino and Aleksander Čeferin, respectively. Under Infantino, FIFA has continued to have problems with ethics and corruption allegations. The organization’s current boss was one of several executives in the now-infamous Panama Papers.
Documents in the corruption scandal allegedly showed that UEFA, under Infantino, conducted deals with indicted figures. This came after the organization denied any previous relationship with these people.
Along with the Panama Papers, Infantino also received heat after selecting Russia and Qatar as hosts for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup competitions. The most recent tournament in the Middle East specifically raised questions over migrant worker conditions. U.S. Soccer eventually came out to demand that FIFA pay restitution to those involved in building the stadiums in Qatar.
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