Platini Files Criminal Complaint and Civil Lawsuit Against Infantino Three Days Before World Cup Opens
Former UEFA president Michel Platini filed a criminal complaint and a separate civil lawsuit in French courts on Monday against FIFA President Gianni Infantino and five other Swiss football and prosecution officials, alleging a decade-long conspiracy of false accusation and influence peddling that derailed his candidacy for the FIFA presidency in 2015 and allowed Infantino to take the position instead. The complaint was filed just three days before the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off in Mexico on June 11 — the tournament widely regarded as the crowning achievement of Infantino’s presidency — in a move that brings one of football governance’s most bitter feuds back into public view at the peak of the sport’s global calendar. who
In a statement sent to AFP, 70-year-old Platini said his lawyers had filed two complaints in French courts. Platini instructed his French lawyer, Olivier Baratelli, to file a civil criminal case before a French judicial court, seeking compensation for the damages he suffered due to FIFA’s “manoeuvres” that were used to prevent him from being elected FIFA president in 2015. globalsecuritywho
The statement said the French justice system “is tasked with fully uncovering the conspiracy hatched against French soccer player Michel Platini to prevent him from assuming the FIFA presidency that had been promised to him.” The second is a criminal complaint to force an investigation into a “criminal conspiracy to commit false accusation, influence peddling, and aiding and abetting influence peddling.” globalsecurity
The five men also targeted by Platini’s criminal complaint include Michael Lauber, who served as Switzerland’s attorney general in 2015, and Marco Villiger, FIFA’s legal director at that time. who
The legal filings revive allegations Platini first made in 2022. The allegations were previously made in 2022 directed at Swiss authorities. What has changed is the legal jurisdiction: Monday’s filings land in the French court system, where Platini’s acquittal last year following a second Swiss trial has cleared his own legal record and given him the standing to pursue an offensive case. who
The history between the two men is inseparable from the circumstances of Infantino’s rise. Platini had UEFA’s full support for the FIFA presidency and the bulk of national federations around the world, and was widely expected to be a shoo-in for the FIFA presidency. He was suspended from football activity by FIFA’s Ethics body after Swiss Justice authorities opened a case into an alleged “disloyal payment” of 2 million Swiss francs, sanctioned by former president Sepp Blatter, for consultancy work Platini carried out over a number of years. who
With Platini provisionally suspended, initially for 90 days, Infantino entered the race for the presidency saying he was only entering as a “placeholder” for Platini until he was cleared to return. Platini never returned to the election, and in February 2016 Infantino was elected following a hard and controversially fought election. who
Swiss prosecutors launched a long-running criminal action against Platini for a payment he received from FIFA in 2011, but have three times failed to obtain a conviction. The Swiss attorney general’s investigation proceeded at a slow pace and was not finally dismissed until late last year, at which point Platini moved to file the current actions. globalsecuritywho
Infantino’s own conduct during the period has also been scrutinised. Swiss authorities investigated Infantino for his use of private jets and for three secret meetings with Lauber in 2016 and 2017. Those meetings became a significant controversy — Lauber was the Swiss attorney general simultaneously overseeing investigations into Platini and other FIFA officials, making his private contacts with Infantino deeply irregular. Lauber subsequently resigned as attorney general. globalsecurity
FIFA did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to the Associated Press.
Regional and Global Impact
The timing of Monday’s filings is precise and deliberate. The fresh filings were announced three days before Infantino opens a FIFA World Cup being played across North America that has let him often share a political stage with US President Donald Trump. Infantino has cultivated a high-profile relationship with the Trump administration throughout the 2026 World Cup build-up, appearing alongside the president at multiple public events. Platini’s legal action — filed at the moment of maximum global attention on the tournament — forces coverage of football governance failures into the same news cycle as the tournament’s opening. who
For FIFA’s institutional reputation, the criminal complaint reopens questions about the 2016 election process that the organisation has never fully answered publicly. Infantino has led FIFA for a decade on the basis of an election whose integrity Platini now formally alleges was secured through a criminal conspiracy. A French judicial investigation, if opened on the basis of the complaint, would compel testimony and documentary disclosure that previous Swiss proceedings did not produce.
Background
Platini, who was acquitted again last year after a second Swiss court trial, is a French football great who served as UEFA president from 2007 to 2015 and was widely expected in soccer circles to become FIFA president and succeed Sepp Blatter. Blatter himself was leaving office in the fallout from US federal investigations of corruption among football officials unsealed in May 2015. Infantino was elected FIFA leader in 2016 as a surprise candidate from European soccer body UEFA, where he had been the long-time general secretary to its president Platini. The 2026 FIFA World Cup, expanded to 48 teams under Infantino’s tenure, is being hosted across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, opening on June 11 in Mexico City. Platini ran the 1998 World Cup in France and remains one of the most decorated players in the history of the French national team, having won three consecutive Ballon d’Or awards between 1983 and 1985. who + 2
What Happens Next
French judicial authorities will determine whether to open a formal investigation on the basis of Platini’s criminal complaint — a decision that could take weeks or months. A civil lawsuit seeking damages from FIFA has also been filed and will proceed through the French civil court system on a separate track. Infantino and FIFA have not yet issued a substantive response to the allegations. The 2026 World Cup opens on June 11, three days after Monday’s filings, and runs through the final in late July — a period during which any judicial developments in France will compete for coverage with the tournament itself. Platini has not indicated publicly whether he intends any further legal actions beyond the two complaints filed on Monday.
