Sepp Blatter, Michel Platini acquitted on FIFA corruption charge

A federal court in Bellinzona, Switzerland, acquitted former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini, his former right-hand man, of corruption charges on Friday following an 11-day trial.

After an investigation that lasted six years and cost both men their influential roles in world soccer’s governing body, Swiss prosecutors in November formally accused Blatter of approving an illicit payment of more than $2 million to Platini in 2011. At the trial, the defendants argued that the money was back pay for services rendered by Platini in his role as a FIFA adviser.

Blatter and Platini said at the trial that they came to a “gentlemen’s agreement” over his pay in 1998, a time when Blatter…