Ex-FIFA Prez Sepp Blatter And ex-UEFA Chief Michel Platini Are Charged With Fraud And Other Offences

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and former UEFA president Michel Platini have been charged with fraud and other offences by Swiss prosecutors on Tuesday after a six-year investigation into a controversial $2million (£1.4m) payment.

The 85-year-old Blatter and 65-year-old Platini now face a trial within months at federal criminal court in Bellinzona, Switzerland.

'This payment damaged FIFA's assets and unlawfully enriched Platini,' Swiss federal prosecutors said in a statement.

The case from September 2015 ousted Blatter ahead of schedule as FIFA president and ended then-UEFA president Platini's campaign to succeed his former mentor.

Swiss cases often take years to reach a conclusion.

The case centres on Platini's written request to FIFA in January 2011 to be paid backdated additional salary for working as a presidential adviser in Blatter's first term, from 1998 to 2002.