Former UEFA president Michel Platini has launched civil and criminal legal action in France against FIFA and its president, Gianni Infantino, over the 2015 corruption allegations that derailed his bid to lead world football’s governing body.
A criminal complaint filed in Paris accuses Infantino, former FIFA legal director Marco Villiger, and former FIFA audit committee chairman Domenico Scala of malicious prosecution and influence peddling.
Platini has also initiated a separate civil lawsuit seeking full financial compensation, alleging that actions taken within FIFA were aimed at preventing his election as FIFA president.
The legal dispute stems from the disclosure in 2015 of a 2 million Swiss franc payment made to Platini by FIFA in 2011 and approved by then FIFA president. The revelation led to ethics investigations and bans that sidelined Platini from football administration, paving the way for Infantino, then UEFA general secretary, to win the FIFA presidency in 2016.
The lawsuits come after Platini and Blatter were definitively acquitted by a Swiss federal criminal appeals court in March 2025 of fraud and forgery charges linked to the payment. The acquittal became final in September 2025.
Following the ruling, Platini maintained that the case was orchestrated to prevent him from becoming FIFA president. French investigators have now been asked to examine whether FIFA officials and Swiss prosecutors improperly coordinated during the original investigation.
FIFA has previously denied any wrongdoing in its handling of the case and had not immediately commented on the latest legal action.
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