On Wednesday, the trial of former FIFA President Sepp Blatter and former UEFA President Michel Platini began in the Criminal Court of Bellinzona, Switzerland, accused of fraud, unfair management, breach of trust and falsification of documents.
Blatter was unable to finally testify as he felt pains in his chest. “The pain will return and I have difficulty breathing,” the former FIFA president, who was in a weak state according to foreign media, told thursdays.
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The hearings will last until June 22, and it is expected that by July 8 the judgment of this trial, important for the image of the highest governing bodies of European and world football, will be issued.
The case revolves around a payment of about two million euros made by Blatter to Platini in 2011 for advisory work carried out between 1998 and 2002, which the Swiss Prosecutor’s Office considered a possible crime of fraud by being done without legal basis, “harming fifa’s assets and illegally enriching Platini”.
The prosecution is asking for up to five years in prison or the payment of a fine.
Observers of the case indicate that it is part of a power dispute between the two defendants, at a time when Platini sounded like a possible successor to Blatter at the head of FIFA.
FIFA’s Ethics Committee disqualified Blatter and Platini for eight years in 2015, preventing the former French national team captain from running for president of the organization, won by the current president, Gianni Infantino, then UEFA secretary general.
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