Overview
- Platini filed two criminal complaints in France on Monday that name FIFA president Gianni Infantino and five former Swiss justice and football officials over an alleged conspiracy to stop his 2016 bid for the FIFA presidency.
- The complaints accuse the named parties of making false accusations and exerting undue influence and ask French prosecutors to open a judicial inquiry.
- Platini’s lawyers say they will also bring a civil damages suit against FIFA to seek compensation for the harm he says resulted from the actions that blocked his candidacy.
- The new filings come days before the 2026 World Cup and are at an early procedural stage with the French judiciary holding the initial complaints rather than producing any trial or conviction.
- The case traces to a CHF 2 million payment and Swiss investigations after Sepp Blatter’s 2015 resignation; Platini and Blatter were previously charged in Switzerland but Platini won an acquittal on appeal last year.