Former UEFA President Platini Sues FIFA, Infantino Over 2015 Corruption Case

Michel Platini has launched civil and criminal legal action against FIFA and its president, Gianni Infantino, claiming a corruption case that emerged in 2015 was used to destroy his chances of becoming head of world football.

The former France captain, 70, has filed a criminal complaint in France accusing Infantino, former FIFA legal director Marco Villiger and former FIFA audit committee chairman Domenico Scala of malicious prosecution.

According to BBC Sport on Tuesday, Platini has also begun separate civil proceedings seeking financial compensation from FIFA. He alleges efforts were made to prevent him from succeeding Sepp Blatter as FIFA president ahead of the 2016 election.

Platini served as UEFA president between 2008 and 2015 and was widely viewed as the leading candidate to take over from Blatter at FIFA.

His hopes of securing football’s most powerful position unravelled after he and Blatter became embroiled in controversy surrounding a payment of two million Swiss francs (£1.6 million) made to Platini in 2011.

The payment, which was reportedly authorised by Blatter, became a central focus of a corruption investigation that shook the sport and triggered one of the biggest crises in FIFA’s history.

The fallout led to Blatter’s resignation and effectively ended Platini’s bid for the presidency. FIFA’s ethics committee subsequently handed Platini an eight-year ban from football, although the Court of Arbitration for Sport later reduced the sanction to four years.

Both Platini and Blatter were later prosecuted in Switzerland over the payment. However, a Swiss federal criminal appeals court cleared both men of corruption charges in March 2025.

Infantino, who worked under Platini as UEFA general secretary before moving into football’s top job, eventually succeeded Blatter as FIFA president.