BASEL: Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter insisted on his innocence on the first day of a Swiss prosecutors’ appeal in Muttenz against a not guilty verdict against both him and Michel Platini in the saga of a disputed payment more than 13 years ago.

The pair, once among the most senior figures in world football, were both acquitted in 2022 by a Swiss court after a seven-year investigation into a 2m Swiss franc payment to Platini by FIFA on Blatter’s authorisation.

Swiss federal prosecutors, leaading to the hearing before the extraordinary appeal court with a verdict expected on March 25.

The original indictment in 2022 accused Blatter and Platini – former UEFA president and FIFA vice-president – of misleading FIFA staff in 2010 and 2011 about an obligation for world football’s governing body to make a long-delayed payment for work the Frenchman had undertaken between 1998 and 2002.

Blatter told the court on Monday that he was not guilty of fraud. He said: “When you talk about falsehoods, lies and deceptions, that is not me. That has never happened in my life. We had principles in my family – we only take the money we have earned . . . I am innocent.”

The scandal wrecked Platini’s hopes of succeeding Blatter as FIFA president.

The prosecutor is seeking 20-month sentences for Blatter and Platini with two years probation.

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