Platini Begins Legal Proceedings Against FIFA

Former UEFA president Michel Platini has launched civil and legal proceedings against FIFA and its current president, Gianni Infantino, over corruption allegations from 2015, which he said derailed his bid to lead the governing body.

The criminal complaint, filed in the French courts, accuses Infantino and two former FIFA officials – legal director Marco Villiger and audit committee chair Domenico Scala – of malicious prosecution.

In a separate civil lawsuit, Platini, 70, is seeking financial compensation from FIFA over alleged efforts to block his election as FIFA president.

Former France captain Platini was UEFA president from 2008 to 2015 and had been the favourite to succeed Sepp Blatter as FIFA president in 2016.

However, in 2015, the pair became embroiled in allegations of fraud and corruption over a payment of 2 million Swiss francs (£1.6 million) made to Platini in 2011, which was claimed to have been authorised by Blatter.

It led Blatter to resign from his role and ended Platini’s hopes of becoming head of FIFA, with the Frenchman also banned for eight years by FIFA’s ethics committee – a sanction later reduced to four years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Both Platini and Blatter subsequently faced criminal charges but were cleared of corruption by a Swiss federal criminal appeals court in March 2025.

Infantino, who served as UEFA general secretary under Platini, replaced Blatter as FIFA president.