Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and ex-Uefa chief Michel Platini are on trial in Switzerland, facing renewed fraud accusations after being acquitted in 2022 over a controversial payment of 2 million Swiss francs. Both defend the payment as compensation for advisory work, with Blatter asserting his innocence and Platini's lawyer claiming the payment was lawful. The trial is anticipated to conclude by March 25, with both men maintaining that the money owed was legitimate and not deceptive.
Both men denied wrongdoing and said the transfer was belated payment for Fifa advisory work by Platini, who formerly led European football's governing body Uefa.
Blatter, 88, reaffirmed that he was innocent. 'When you talk about falsehoods, lies and deception, that's not me. That didn't exist in my whole life,' he told the court.
A lawyer for Platini, 69, said the lower court that acquitted the pair in 2022 had been 'right to find that the disputed payment of 2m francs was lawful'.
Platini said during the trial: 'I trusted the president, and knew he would pay me one day.' He stopped working for Fifa in 2002 but initially did not pursue the payment.
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