France star Platini and former FIFA manager Blatter will hear their fate in the corruption case

France soccer legend Michel Platini and former FIFA president Sepp Blatter will appear before a Swiss court on Tuesday to learn if they will be found guilty or acquitted of corruption in the case that ended their football careers.

Two and a half years after being found not guilty of fraud, the two, who were once among the most influential people in world soccer, will make an appearance at the Swiss Criminal Court’s Extraordinary Appeals Chamber.

The fresh hearing was held in the town of Muttenz, which is close to Basel, after Swiss federal prosecutors rejected the ruling in a lower court in 2022. The charge is denied by both men.

The case concerns a 2011 payment of 2 million Swiss franc ($2.27 million) that Blatter approved for Platini, a former manager and captain of the French national team.

Blatter and Platini claimed the payment was a consulting fee for work done between 1998 and 2002, which the Frenchman claimed had been partially postponed due to FIFA’s inability to pay him in full at the time.

His aspirations to someday succeed Blatter at the top of FIFA were dashed by the scandal, which surfaced in 2015 while Platini was president of the European soccer organization UEFA.

FIFA imposed an initial eight-year suspension on Blatter and Platini for ethical transgressions in 2015. The penalty put an end to their careers as senior football administrators, even though their exclusions were eventually lowered.

Blatter and Platini were charged in the 2022 indictment with misleading FIFA employees in 2010 and 2011 about a payment obligation owed to Platini by the world soccer governing organization.

“They made the untrue allegation that Platini was entitled to or that FIFA owed him two million Swiss francs for advising services. Both accused parties made repeated false statements in order to accomplish this deceit,” the indictment stated.

Although there were substantial issues regarding the prosecution’s claim that the payment was false, the judge in the 2022 case accepted the pair’s version of a “gentlemen’s agreement” for the payment, clearing them.

Blatter, who presided over FIFA for 17 years until 2015, has maintained that he did nothing improper. He told Reuters that he was the target of a witch hunt and that he was now a weak 89.

Three-time European Footballer of the Year Platini maintained that the funds were associated with backpay.

He told reporters at the beginning of the appeal, “There’s nothing at all, there’s no corruption, there’s no swindling.”

Dominic Nellen, his attorney, claimed that the purpose of the litigation was to prevent Platini from becoming president of FIFA.

“Platini was the most likely successor to Blatter in 2015, but someone wanted him out of the way,” Nellen stated. “At every turn there seems to be an attempt to stop Platini becoming president of FIFA.”

Gianni Infantino, who had previously worked for Platini at UEFA, eventually took Blatter’s job. Because Platini, Europe’s favorite candidate, was prohibited from playing football, Infantino felt had to run.

Infantino has denied having anything to do with Platini’s demise and claimed he only came forward when UEFA urged him to do so following the revelation of Platini’s accusations.

The prosecution wants Blatter and Platini to be sentenced to 20 months in prison with a two-year suspension and to have the money seized.

The Swiss Federal Court, the nation’s highest court, is the venue for appeals against the ruling by both parties.