Former UEFA president Michel Platini told a Swiss appeals court on Monday that FIFA “owed” him the two million Swiss francs ($2.2 million) at the center of the fraud case against him.
Speaking at the special appeals court in Muttenz, near Basel, the 69-year-old former footballer expressed his frustration with the legal proceedings.
“I still don’t understand why the public prosecutor’s office is picking on me,” said Platini, a three-time Ballon d’Or winner, as his hearing began.
The case, which also involves former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, stems from a payment FIFA made to Platini in 2011 for consultancy services dating back to his time as an advisor to Blatter in 1998. Platini, who led UEFA from 2007 to 2015, and Blatter, who stepped down from FIFA amid a corruption scandal in 2015, were both acquitted of fraud and other charges by a Swiss Federal Court in June 2022.
At the time, the court ruled that fraud was “not established with a likelihood bordering on certainty,” giving the two men the benefit of the doubt. However, Switzerland’s Attorney General’s Office (OAG) has requested the case be reopened.
Platini Details Verbal Agreement with Blatter
During Monday’s hearing, Platini recounted how Blatter first asked him about his salary expectations when he joined FIFA as an advisor ahead of the 1998 presidential election.
“As I didn’t know this world—the world of FIFA—I randomly said ‘one million,'” Platini explained. “He asked me, ‘One million of what?’ I wanted to joke a bit and said, ‘One million of whatever you want: roubles, pesetas, lira.’ And Mr. Blatter said, ‘One million Swiss francs.'”
However, Platini said that in 1999, Blatter told him FIFA could not afford the full amount at the time, so they agreed on a written contract for 300,000 Swiss francs per year, with the remaining balance to be paid later.
“He told me, ‘I’ll give you the balance later, when we have money at FIFA,'” Platini said.
Platini submitted an invoice for the unpaid amount in 2011, which prosecutors have described as a “false invoice” intended to defraud FIFA. Platini, however, maintained that he would have taken legal action if the payment had not been made.
“A contract is a contract, a word is a word,” he said. “FIFA owed me that money, and I would have done anything to get it back.”
Blatter, who turns 89 on March 10, also testified that he and Platini had a “gentleman’s agreement” regarding the payment. However, he admitted the deal was purely verbal, had no witnesses, and was never recorded in FIFA’s accounts.
The appeals court will now determine whether to uphold the previous acquittal or allow the case to proceed.
