ZURICH: Sepp Blatter, the former head of football’s global governing body FIFA, is looking forward to clearing his name at a new court hearing into allegations he made corrupt payments to French foo­tb­alling great Michel Platini.

Blatter, who was president of FIFA from 1998 to 2015, told Reuters on Tues­day he was innocent and the victim of a witch hunt ahead of the appeals hearing on Monday.

Both Blatter and Platini were cleared in 2022 at a lower Swiss court following a seven-year investigation into a 2 million Swiss franc payment, a decision contested by Swiss prosecutors.

“The Federal Criminal Court in 2022 said the contract between Platini and me was correct, and I exp­ect the new court will confirm this decision,” Blatter told Reuters, adding the ap­p­eal was “absolute nonsense”.

“It’s a witch hunt against me, it feels like a vendetta. I am completely confident I will be cleared.” Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2025