The trial before the Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona was about a controversial payment of two million Swiss francs made by the world football association Fifa to Michel Platini. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office accused former Fifa president Joseph Blatter and former Uefa head Michel Platini of fraud at Fifa’s expense; the payment in 2011 was improper. But the judge and the judges in Bellinzona concluded that it was “entirely plausible” that Blatter and Platini had reached an oral agreement to that effect in 1998. According to the agreement, Platini was entitled to the money – for his work as an advisor to Fifa over several years.

Satisfaction for Blatter and Platini

For Blatter and Platini, the acquittal means enormous satisfaction: the two had played a formative role in world football for years. But the investigations by the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland brought their careers as officials to an abrupt halt: Fifa banned them from all offices because of it. As a result, they were ostracized. Now their honor has been restored, their slates wiped clean. They were suitably relieved after the verdict was handed down in Bellinzona.

Blow for Fifa

The verdict, on the other hand, is embarrassing for Fifa: Football’s world governing body had acted as a private plaintiff at the trial. Its representative was extremely aggressive in court and demanded payment of the two million francs back. However, the court did not agree to this demand: So not only will Fifa not get the money back, but the acquittal also casts doubt on the banishment of Blatter and Platini. For this is now not legally supported.

Crooked light on Infantino’s rise

Combine that with the fact that current Fifa president Gianni Infantino was only able to take over as head of Fifa in 2016 because Platini had been eliminated by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office investigation and thus could not succeed Joseph Blatter himself. If the banishment of Blatter and Platini is not now legally supported, this also casts a skewed light on Infantino’s ascent to the Fifa throne.

Debacle for the Office of the Attorney General

Things look even bleaker for the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland: It was the then Federal Prosecutor Michael Lauber, who in 2015 identified Fifa as a target and wanted to clean out the world football association because of corruption and mousehandling. The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland initiated more than 20 proceedings in connection with Fifa.

But the mountain gave birth to a mouse: Only just three proceedings resulted in an indictment at all. There was a conviction in one less important case. But the main proceedings either petered out or became time-barred – as was the case two years ago with the “summer fairy tale” trial surrounding the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

And in the last trial, there were finally two acquittals. This leads to the conclusion: For the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland, the entire Fifa complex is a single debacle.