Set trial for 2 former senior officials of FIFA and UEFA

This will be the final hearing in a long story that began in 2011 and has its roots in 1.8 million euro payment from FIFA to Platini for consulting.

Platini’s consulting work ran from 1998 to 2002 when he got the contract and the payment was made eight years later. Court Criminal sentence The Swiss Federation said that the two former officials are being investigated for “dishonest management” and “forgery of documents”.

Waiting to set the trial for two former high-ranking FIFA officials, Blatter (right) and Platini (left) AFP

Blatter was forced to resign as FIFA president in 2015 and was banned by this organization from participating in the activity Soccer for 8 years, then reduced to 6 years. Meanwhile, the legendary three-time “Golden Ball” award, Platini, has been suspended from all football-related activities for 4 years. Both men will be questioned again before the investigation is over. They can be fined or face up to five years in prison if found guilty.

The Swiss Justice Minister announced last November that Platini and Blatter had been indicted, also said that the Federal Criminal Court, in Bellinzona, would decide whether to try the two former officials. Both once powerful figures of World Football at the time told AFP that he expected the court to clear them.

Mr. Platini is cherishing a return to football-related management AFP

Mr. Platini and Blatter both confirmed they had verbally agreed to an annual compensation of nearly 1 million euros, which was beyond FIFA’s financial capacity at the time and which they settled in 2011. Mr. Blatter last year dismissed the suggestion that this was a non-transparent payment, and claimed that FIFA had paid the correct pensions and Platini had “paid tax on this amount at his place of residence. I’m in Switzerland”.

Platini once expressed an intention to possibly run against Blatter for the FIFA presidency in the 2011 election but ultimately failed to stand. Blatter was previously re-elected to a fourth term in May 2015. A few days later, he announced his resignation. Platini was initially considered the best candidate to replace Blatter but had to withdraw due to a ban.