It was also credible that Platini sought the extra money only in 2010 as he did not need the money immediately. BELLINZONA, Switzerland (AP) Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini were acquitted on charges of defrauding FIFA by a Swiss criminal court on Friday, a rare positive outcome for the pair who were among soccer’s most powerful figures before being embroiled in corruption investigations. It also seemed implausible that Platini would have worked only on the basis of written contract that paid him such a paltry sum, the judge told the court. The senior judge, Josephine Contu Albrizio, said a verbal agreement between Blatter and Platini seemed credible, as did the Frenchman seeing his market value at 1 million francs ($1.5 million) per year due to his status in the game. The rest of Platini's yearly salary of 1 million francs ($1.5 million) was to be settled at a later date, Blatter said. Platini, 67, worked as a consultant between 19 with an annual salary of 300,000 Swiss francs ($450,200) - the most FIFA could afford because of money troubles the organisation had at the time, Blatter told the court. ( Reuters: Arnd Wiegmann)īlatter, 86, had said the payment followed a "gentlemen's agreement" between the pair when he asked Platini to be his technical adviser in 1998. Football and the World Cup are too big for that.Michel Platini, a former France national team captain, was once president of UEFA. ![]() It would have been a gesture of peace if the two long-standing political opponents had hosted the World Cup one after the other. "At the time, we actually agreed in the executive committee that Russia should get the 2018 World Cup and the USA that of 2022. "The choice of Qatar was a mistake," Blatter added. Six months later, Qatar bought fighter jets from the French for 14.6 billion dollars." It turned out exactly like this: thanks to Platini's four votes, the World Cup went to Qatar rather than to the United States. "'Sepp, what would you do if your president asked you for something?' I then told him that the question didn't occur to me because we don't have a president in Switzerland. "Sarkozy told Platini: 'Look what you and your UEFA colleagues can do for Qatar when the World Cup is awarded'. He was invited to the palace of President Sarkozy who had just had lunch with the Crown Prince of Qatar," Blatter told Swiss newspaper Tages-Anzeiger. "A week before the 2010 FIFA Congress, Michel Platini called me to say that our plan would not work. Now, in his first interview since being acquitted, Blatter has opened up on the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar, the roles of ex-UEFA chief Platini and then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the immediate buying of fighter jets by Qatar from France and why he considers the decision made in 2010 to be "a mistake". Both were cleared in a Swiss court, though Blatter remains banned from all football activities. Nevertheless, Blatter was charged with fraud after making a £1.7m payment to Platini, which the pair disclosed as being a 'gentlemen's agreement'. ![]() There were widespread allegations of vote-buying and corruption, but an independent investigation commissioned by FIFA found no evidence of wrongdoing. Blatter and Platini, 66, were both banned. He has been banned from participating in FIFA activities since 2015 as a result of the FIFA corruption case made public that year, and will remain banned until 2027. Qatar was controversially awarded the hosting rights to the World Cup back in 2010, seeing off rival bids from the United States - who were expected to win - South Korea, Japan and Australia. Platini, the former UEFA president who as a player captained France to victory in the 1984 European Championship, was also charged as an accomplice. Joseph 'Sepp' Blatter is a Swiss former football administrator who served as the eighth President of FIFA from 1998 to 2015. ![]() Sepp Blatter, the former president of FIFA, has opened up on the role of President Sarkozy and Michel Platini in awarding the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.
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