Former UEFA president Michel Platini has initiated both civil and criminal legal proceedings against FIFA and its president, Gianni Infantino, over the corruption allegations that derailed his bid to become the head of world football.
The 70-year-old French football legend 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. He argues that actions taken against him were designed to damage his reputation and prevent him from contesting the FIFA presidency.
In a separate civil lawsuit, Platini is seeking financial compensation from FIFA, claiming that efforts were deliberately made to block his path to the organisation’s top office ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
Platini, who served as UEFA president from 2007 to 2015, was widely considered the frontrunner to succeed former FIFA president Sepp Blatter during one of the most turbulent periods in football administration. However, his ambitions were shattered after a payment of two million Swiss francs made to him in 2011 became the subject of a major corruption investigation.
The payment, which Blatter said was for consultancy work carried out years earlier, sparked intense scrutiny and led to disciplinary action by FIFA’s ethics committee. Platini was initially handed an eight-year ban from all football-related activities, although the Court of Arbitration for Sport later reduced the sanction to four years.
The controversy also resulted in criminal proceedings against both Platini and Blatter in Switzerland. After years of legal battles, a Swiss federal criminal appeals court cleared the pair of corruption allegations in March 2025, bringing the lengthy case to a close.
Platini maintains that the allegations ruined what had been a strong campaign to lead FIFA and ultimately paved the way for Infantino, who had previously worked under him as UEFA general secretary, to win the FIFA presidential election in 2016.
The latest lawsuits reopen one of football’s most controversial governance disputes and are expected to reignite debate over the circumstances surrounding FIFA’s leadership transition more than a decade ago.
Neither FIFA nor Infantino had publicly responded to the new legal action at the time of reporting.
