Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, the former FIFA president and France football legend respectively, have been acquitted of fraud for the second time.

They had been accused of fraud, forgery, mismanagement, and misappropriation of more than $2 million of FIFA funds in 2011.

The attorney general’s office in Switzerland had appealed against their first acquittal in July 2022 and requested sentences of 20 months, suspended for two years.

Blatter, 89, and Platini, 69, who were once among the most influential figures in football, have continually denied any wrongdoing.

They were exonerated of fraud by the Extraordinary Appeals Chamber of the Swiss Criminal Court in Muttenz, near Basel.

Blatter had approved a payment of 2 million Swiss francs (equivalent to $2.21 million) to Platini in February 2011, for his role as a presidential advisor from 1998 to 2002.

The Swiss federal investigation emerged in September 2015, when Platini was a leading candidate to succeed his former mentor in an upcoming election.

The investigation triggered a series of events that would eventually end the careers of football’s most senior officials.

Despite federal court trials clearing their names twice, Blatter’s reputation will likely always be associated with leading FIFA during corruption crises that led to the downfall of numerous high-ranking soccer officials globally.

Platini, one of football’s greatest players and later Blatter’s protégé in soccer politics, never succeeded in his bid for the FIFA presidency, often considered his destined path.

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