Blatter, Platini cleared in FIFA fraud trial

Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, once the chiefs of world and European football, were cleared over a suspected fraudulent payment that shook the sport and torpedoed their time at the top.

Switzerland's Federal Criminal Court in the southern city of Bellinzona acquitted the pair in a trial following a mammoth investigation that began in 2015 and lasted six years.

Former FIFA president Blatter, 86, and Platini, 67, listened in silence as the clerk read out the judgement which rejected the prosecution's request for a suspended prison sentence of a year and eight months.

"A neutral court has finally found that no offence has been committed in this case. My client is completely cleared and relieved as a result," said Platini's lawyer Dominic Nellen.

Platini was employed as an adviser to Blatter between 1998 and 2002.

Blatter told the court that when he took over as FIFA president in 1998, world football's governing body had a bad record and he thought someone who had been a top figure in playing the game could help.

He turned to Platini for advice, which involved political trips, reforming the international calendar and helping the national federations financially.

The pair were tried over a two million Swiss franc ($2.05 million) payment in 2011 to Platini, who was then in charge of European football's governing body UEFA.