Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter and former UEFA chief Michel Platini were acquitted of corruption charges by a Swiss court. The case involved a disputed 2 million Swiss francs payment from FIFA in 2011. Both men denied wrongdoing.

Former FIFA President Sepp Blatter and former UEFA chief Michel Platini were both acquitted of corruption charges by a Swiss court on Tuesday.

The charges were related to allegations of fraud, forgery, mismanagement, and the misappropriation of 2 million Swiss francs (now €2.1 million; $2.26 million) of FIFA funds in 2011.

Blatter and Platini had initially been acquitted by a lower court in 2022, but Swiss prosecutors decided to appeal the ruling. Platini's lawyer, Dominic Nellen, responded to the verdict by stating, "After two acquittals, even the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland must realize that these criminal proceedings have definitively failed. Michel Platini must finally be left in peace in criminal matters."

The case centered on a payment of 2 million Swiss francs that Blatter authorized to Platini in 2011. Platini, a former French soccer star and captain of the national team, was said to have received the payment as a consultancy fee for work conducted between 1998 and 2002.

Blatter and Platini claimed that the payment was partially deferred because FIFA lacked sufficient funds to compensate Platini at the time. They also asserted that the agreement was made orally and without witnesses. Platini requested the payment in 2011, but prosecutors argued that it was an "unfounded" payment secured by "cleverly misleading" FIFA's internal controls through false statements.

The scandal became public in 2015, leading to Blatter's resignation as FIFA president, a position he had held since 1998. It also led to Platini's resignation as UEFA president and ended his aspirations of succeeding Blatter in FIFA.

Blatter, now 89, and Platini, 69, have consistently denied any wrongdoing throughout the decade-long corruption case.