French footballing great Michel Platini was accused of fraud to torpedo his chances of becoming the head of world soccer's governing body FIFA, his lawyer told a Swiss court on Wednesday.

Ex-Fifa head Sepp Blatter and French football great Michel Platini were cleared in 2022, but prosecutors appealed.

The Swiss prosecutor has requested 20-month suspended sentences for former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and ex-UEFA president Michel Platini

Former president of the the European Football Association Michel Platini, center, is being retried in a case of alleged financial wrongdoing.

Blatter and Platini were acquitted in July 2022 after an 11-day trial at Switzerland’s federal criminal court in Bellinzona. An appeal was filed months later by the attorney general’s office and Fifa, and the fresh trial was delayed after Platini won a ruling last year ordering federal appeal judges to be recused.

The two men were acquitted almost three years ago, but the Swiss Attorney General's Office and FIFA appealed against the decision.View on euronews

The defence lawyers of former FIFA president Joseph Blatter and former UEFA boss Michel Platini have pleaded for another acquittal of their clients in the new round of a legal dispute over suspicion of fraud in Muttenz,