As Platini faces his days in court, FIFA's legal woes pile up

LAUSANNE: Michel Platini will face Swiss prosecutors on three consecutive days next week as he answers questions in two of the raft of cases that still beset global football and its leaders, past and present.

Platini is due to be interrogated in Bern on Monday and Tuesday over the corruption case that shattered his dream of taking over world football's governing body FIFA after the fall of Sepp Blatter.

On Wednesday, he is expected in Sarnen, 80 kilometres to the east, but this time as a witness in an investigation into the actions of the man who instead took over FIFA, Gianni Infantino.

These are only two of the proceedings involving FIFA. Here AFP rounds up the legal state of play.

The case of the two presidents

When Blatter fell as head of FIFA in 2015 he quickly took his would-be successor and the head of European governing body, Platini with him.

FIFA banned both men from football at the end of 2015. The accusation against Platini revolves around a payment of 2 million Swiss francs from FIFA authorised by Blatter in 2011.

Swiss prosecutors responded by opening an investigation of the two men on accusations of "disloyal management", "breach of trust" and "fraud".

As Platini's final hearing approaches on Monday and Tuesday in Bern, he and Blatter insist that, even though there was no written contract, the payment, made just before Platini opted not to challenge Blatter in the 2011 FIFA election, was for consultancy work dating back to 1999-2002.

Platini insists the affair was a "plot" to block him from the FIFA presidency, which went instead to his former UEFA number two, Infantino.

Platini counter-attacked at the end of 2018 by filing a complaint in the courts accusing unnamed enemies of "slanderous denunciation" and "criminal association".