FIFA president Infantino targeted by new charges from his former boss Platini

FIFA president Gianni Infantino became the target of a renewed criminal complaint in France on Monday by his former boss Michel Platini, who seemed destined to lead FIFA until he was implicated in financial misconduct in 2015.

French great Platini – who was acquitted again last year after a second Swiss trial – has asked lawyers in Paris to file a criminal complaint against Infantino and five other Swiss football and prosecution officials. He claims there was a conspiracy of false accusations and influence peddling to prevent him from becoming FIFA president a decade ago.

Lawyers will also file a civil lawsuit seeking damages from FIFA, a Platini spokesperson said in a statement on the allegations, which were made earlier in 2022 and addressed to Swiss authorities.

The new signings were announced three days before Infantino opens the World Cup to be played in North America, which has often led to him sharing a political stage with US President Donald Trump.

FIFA was asked for comment on Platini’s legal complaints.

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Infantino was elected FIFA leader in 2016 as a surprise candidate from the European football organization UEFA, where he was general secretary of President Platini for a long time.

It was widely expected in football circles that Platini would become FIFA president, succeeding his former mentor Sepp Blatter, who left office amid the fallout from US federal investigations into corruption among football officials that were revealed in May 2015.

However, four months later, both Platini and Blatter were the targets of a separate Swiss investigation into a payment of 2 million Swiss francs ($2.5 million) to the Frenchman, which would result in both being dismissed prematurely from office.

Both Platini and Blatter were acquitted twice on charges of defrauding FIFA when they stood trial jointly in Switzerland in 2022 and again on appeal last year by the federal prosecutor’s office.

The five men also targeted in Platini’s criminal complaint include Switzerland’s attorney general in 2015, Michael Lauber, and FIFA’s legal director at the time, Marco Villiger.

Published on June 8, 2026