Sepp Blatter, who used to be the big boss of FIFA, the group that runs world football, went to a court in Switzerland on Monday, March 03, 2025. He was there with Michel Platini, a famous football player from France. Both men say they didn’t do anything wrong in a money case from years ago. This court visit happened two and a half years after they were told they weren’t guilty of cheating anyone.
Back in 2022, a lower court in Switzerland said Blatter and Platini were not guilty after looking into a payment of 2 million Swiss francs (about $2.22 million) that Blatter gave to Platini. But now, a government lawyer in Switzerland doesn’t agree with that decision and wants the court to look at it again. This new hearing is happening in a special court near the city of Basel.
The government lawyer asked the court to throw out the old decision completely. Blatter told the judges, “I didn’t cheat or lie. That’s not who I am. I’ve never done that in my whole life.” He also said his family taught him to only take money he worked for, and he repeated, “I am innocent.”
Here’s what the case is about: Back in 2010 and 2011, Blatter and Platini were accused of tricking FIFA workers. They said FIFA had to pay Platini 2 million Swiss francs for some advice he gave. The government says that wasn’t true—they made it up. At the time, Platini was the leader of UEFA, which runs football in Europe. The case says they kept telling lies to make this payment happen.
This whole mess ruined Platini’s chance to take over Blatter’s job at FIFA. Blatter quit in 2015 after another big cheating problem came up at FIFA. Both men were also kicked out of football in 2015 for breaking rules about right and wrong. At first, they were banned for eight years, but later that got shorten
In 2022, a judge believed Blatter and Platini when they said the payment was part of a friendly deal they had agreed on years before. The judge said there wasn’t enough proof to show they were cheating. But now, the government lawyer wants them to get a punishment of 20 months in jail, paused for two years, meaning they wouldn’t go to jail right away unless they got in trouble again.
Before the hearing started, Blatter, who is 88 and doesn’t look very strong anymore, told reporters he feels like people are unfairly chasing him, like in a “witch hunt.” He said, “I’m feeling good about this. It’s a sunny day, and I’m ready with positive energy.”
Platini, who is 69 and won the best European football player award three times, also thinks he’ll be found not guilty again. His lawyer, Dominic Nellen, said, “The first court was right—the payment of 2 million francs was okay and legal.”
The court will decide what happens on March 25, 2025.
