Bellinzona (Switzerland) (AFP) – Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, once the chiefs of world and European football, were cleared Friday over a suspected fraudulent payment that shook the sport and torpedoed their time at the top. Switzerland's Federal Criminal Court in the southern city of Bellinzona acquitted the pair in a trial following a mammoth […]

Paris (AFP) – Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, once the chiefs of world and European football, were on Friday acquitted following a two-week trial in June over a suspected fraudulent payment that rocked the sport and brought a premature end to their time at the top. AFP Sport looks back at the colourful careers of […]

Bellinzona (Switzerland) (AFP) – Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, once the chiefs of world and European football, were acquitted Friday over a suspected fraudulent payment that shook the sport and torpedoed their time at the top. Switzerland's Federal Criminal Court in the southern city of Bellinzona rejected the prosecution's request for a suspended prison sentence […]

Bellinzona (Switzerland) (AFP) – The Swiss prosecutor's office on Wednesday demanded an 18-month suspended jail sentence for Michel Platini and ex-president of FIFA Sepp Blatter, accusing them of fraud. Blatter and Platini are being tried over a two-million-Swiss-franc payment in 2011 to the former France captain, who by that time was in charge of European […]

Bellinzona (Switzerland) (AFP) – Sepp Blatter struck a "gentleman's agreement" with Michel Platini to pay him a million Swiss francs ($1.02 million) a year as an adviser, the former world football chief told their trial on Thursday. The French football legend had jokingly asked Blatter for a million, without specifying the currency, and the then-FIFA […]

Bellinzona (Switzerland) (AFP) – Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, once the chiefs of world and European football, appeared in a Swiss court on Wednesday to face trial over a suspected fraudulent payment. Former FIFA president Blatter, 86, and Platini, 66, appeared in Switzerland's Federal Criminal Court in the southern city of Bellinzona, following an investigation […]

Bellinzona (Switzerland) (AFP) – Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, once the chiefs of world and European football, went on trial in Switzerland on Wednesday over a suspected fraudulent payment. Former FIFA president Blatter, 86, and Platini, 66, appeared in the Federal Criminal Court in the southern city of Bellinzona, following an investigation that began in […]

Lausanne (AFP) – Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and former UEFA chief Michel Platini will appear before Swiss prosecutors on charges of fraud between 8-22 June, the criminal court concerned said Tuesday. This will be the final hearing in a long-running saga that began in 2011 and stems from a payment from FIFA to Platini […]

Berlin (AFP) – Former UEFA president Michel Platini could receive a cash compensation from European football's governing body, even though he is serving a four-year suspension for corruption. German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Tuesday claims Platini could yet receive a pay-out as part of a severance and retirement package. UEFA confirmed to AFP that […]

Athens (AFP) – Disgraced football leader Michel Platini said in a farewell speech to UEFA on Wednesday that he felt no guilt over a $2 million payment from FIFA that has seen him suspended for four years. "Just simply know that my conscience is clear, that I am certain that I committed not the slightest […]

Paris (AFP) – World football's governing body FIFA has given the green light for disgraced former UEFA president Michel Platini to address Wednesday's UEFA Congress in Athens, triggering anger in Germany. A source close to Platini, currently serving a four-year ban,  said last week he would attend the meeting of European football's governing body, when the […]

Paris (AFP) – Disgraced former UEFA president Michel Platini will attend the UEFA Congress in Athens next week at the invitation of European football's governing body, but paying his own way for a final farewell. Platini "will travel there by his own means and will not give a press conference" at the Congress, when the […]

Paris (AFP) – Former UEFA president Michel Platini has demanded that the Court for Arbitration of Sport (CAS) explain the reasoning behind their decision to ban him for four years from all activities relating to football. Originally banned for eight years, reduced to six on appeal, Platini took further court action in May and had […]

Paris (AFP) – Three candidates to succeed the disgraced Michel Platini as president of UEFA made the shortlist on Friday for the vote to take place in Athens on September 14. The three are Slovenia's Aleksander Ceferin, Michael van Praag of the Netherlands and Spain's Angel Maria Villar. Spanish football federation chief Villar, 66, is […]

Paris (AFP) – Michel Platini, currently serving a four-year ban from all football, wants to "formally resign" as UEFA president at the organisation's elective congress on September 14 when his successor will be named, the Frenchman said Wednesday. The former French national team skipper quit his post on May 9 after his appeal to the […]