Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter and French F
In 2022, the couple was released in the trial for payment of 2m Swiss francs (£ 1,6 million) paid for Platini, and Blatter approved in 2011.
They both denied injustice and said that the transfer was a delayed payment for FIFA Counseling work of Platini, who had previously led UEFA European football.
But the Swiss federal prosecutor complained against the decision. The new trial is expected to last until Thursday, and the verdict reached March 25.
The couple appeared before the Muttenz Court, near Basel, on Monday. Blatter, 88, confirmed again that he was innocent.
“When you talk about falsehoods, lies and deceit, it’s not me. It didn’t exist in my life,” he said in court.
The lawyer for Platini, 69, said that the lower court that closed the couple of 2022 was “the right to determine that the disputed payment of 2m francs was lawful.”
Platini had a famous playing career and is the triple winner Ballon D’Or – the highest European football award.
He is the captain of the French victory at the 1984 European Championships and won the 1985 European Cup with Juventus. He continued to train the French national team and became president of UEFA in 2007.
In 2015, prosecutors accused a couple of FIFA’s deceptions from paying a platinum made.
In his testimony at the first trial, Blatter said he asked Platina to work as his advisor in 1998. He added that at the time, FIFA could not afford an annual fee for 1m of the Swiss franc, which Platini sought.
Instead, they settled with a partial payment, with the remaining balance later paying off. Platini said during the trial, “I believed the president and I knew he would pay me one day.”
He stopped working for FIFA in 2002, but at first he did not continue his payment because he told the court that he did not need money then, and – according to Blatter – FIFA was “broken”. In January 2011, Platini felt that he was able to send an invoice, and he paid the money after approval by Blatter.
After the investigation launched in 2015, the Swiss prosecutors accused Blatter and Platini of forgery and fraud.
In 2015, FIFA also suspended both men from football for breaking ethics – originally eight years, although their exclusion was later reduced.
In 2022, the Federal Criminal Court in Switzerland in Bellinzoni cleared the two of them after accepting their account of the “Mr. Agreement” to pay.
The Swiss businessman and sports administrator Blatter joined FIFA in 1975, became Secretary General in 1981, and then the president of the 1998 World Football Body.
He remained in the role for 17 years while resigning in the middle of an investigation into corruption. Platini later withdrew his own candidacy for president.
