Platini files complaint against FIFA president Infantino

Former president of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Michel Platini has filed a complaint against the head of the International Federation of Football (FIFA) Gianni Infantino.

This is reported by AFP.

It is noted that Platini accused Infantino of libel and abuse of influence. He also plans to initiate a civil lawsuit against FIFA to seek compensation for damage caused by "machinations aimed at preventing Platini from being elected FIFA president in 2015." The Frenchman noted that he would not allow those who harmed him to escape responsibility.

Infantino was elected FIFA president at an extraordinary congress in February 2016. He succeeded Joseph Blatter in this post, who resigned after numerous corruption scandals in the organization. The largest scandal in FIFA history erupted in late May 2015, when, two days before the organization's presidential elections, Swiss police detained nine organization officials at a hotel in Zurich at the request of U.S. authorities on suspicion of corruption. In total, 14 former and current football officials were charged at that time. During the corruption scandal, then-FIFA president Blatter, organization general secretary Jerome Valcke, and organization vice president Platini were suspended from football activities.

Before Infantino's re-election as FIFA president in 2019, a major interview with Platini was published in which he criticized the head of the organization. Platini accused him of hypocrisy, stating that he did not rightfully stand at the head of world football.

At the end of 2015, Platini was suspended from football activities for eight years by the ethics committee. The basis for the suspension was a transfer by Blatter, who led FIFA from 1998 to 2015, of 2 million Swiss francs (about €1.7 million) from FIFA funds to Platini's accounts in 2011. Subsequently, the FIFA appeals committee reduced Platini's disqualification period to six years, and in May 2016 the Court of Arbitration for Sport partially granted the Frenchman's appeal, reducing the suspension period to four years.

Source: TASS