Michel Platini has taken legal action against world football’s governing body FIFA and its president, Gianni Infantino, claiming that corruption allegations made against him in 2015 wrecked his chances of becoming FIFA’s leader.
The 70-year-old former UEFA president filed a criminal complaint with French courts, accusing Infantino and two ex-FIFA officials – legal chief Marco Villiger and audit committee head Domenico Scala – of malicious prosecution.
In a separate civil claim, Platini is demanding financial damages from FIFA, alleging the organisation deliberately blocked his path to the presidency.
Once the favourite to succeed Sepp Blatter in 2016, Platini saw his ambitions crumble after a controversial 2 million Swiss franc (£1.6 million) payment he received in 2011 was labelled corrupt.
The case led to Blatter’s resignation and an eight-year ban for Platini from FIFA’s ethics committee – later reduced to four years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Both Platini and Blatter faced criminal proceedings but were cleared of all corruption charges by a Swiss federal criminal appeals court in March 2025. Infantino, who served as UEFA’s general secretary under Platini, went on to replace Blatter as FIFA president.
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