Ex FIFA boss Blatter, Platini cleared of fraud charges by Swiss Court

Former FIFA boss Sepp Blatter and ex-UEFA supremo Michel Platini have received a huge boost as they aim to clear their names after a court upheld an earlier decision to clear them of corruption charges.

The two were cleared by a Swiss Court Tuesday.

The aforementioned charges were related related to fraud, forgery, mismanagement and misappropriation of two million Swiss francs (Approximately Ksh 270 million) of FIFA money back in 2011.

The pair, once among the most powerful figures in global football, were cleared of fraud mismanagement at the Extraordinary Appeals Chamber of the Swiss Criminal Court in the town of Muttenz, near Basel, Reuters reports.

The two had previously been acquitted by a lower court in 2022, but Swiss prosecutors appealed that decision.

They had vehemently argued their innocence throughout the case, which emerged following a payment made to Platini by FIFA.

Blatter, now 89, served as the eighth president of FIFA from 1998 to 2015.

He has been banned from participating in FIFA activities since 2015 as a result of the FIFA corruption case made public that year, and will remain banned until 2027.

Platini, on the other hand, is a former French player who is renowned for winning the Ballon D'or three years in a row between 1983,1984 and 1985.

As the president of UEFA in 2015 he was banned from involvement in football under FIFA's organisation, over ethics violations. The ban lasted until 2023.