Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and French football legend Michel Platini have been acquitted of fraud charges for the second time.

The former FIFA president and former UEFA chief were accused of fraud, forgery and misappropriation of more than $2 million in FIFA funds in 2011. Swiss prosecutors appealed the first acquittal in July 2022 and asked for sentences of 20 months, suspended for two years.

Blatter, 89, and Platini, 69, strongly deny the charges. They were acquitted of fraud charges at the Swiss Criminal Court in the town of Muttenz, near Basel.

Blatter approved FIFA to pay $2 million Swiss francs to French football legend Platini in February 2011 for additional and undisclosed salary, working as an advisor to the president between 1998-2002.

The Swiss federal investigation emerged in September 2015, when Platini was a serious candidate to succeed his mentor in an upcoming election. The investigation set off a series of events that ultimately cost the careers of two of the most powerful and influential men in football.

Although federal trials have twice cleared their names, Blatter's reputation will likely always be associated with his management of FIFA during corruption crises that led to the ouster of several top football figures. Platini, one of the greatest footballers of all time and later a protégé of Blatter in football politics, never reached the FIFA presidency, which he called "his destiny". | BGNES