FIFA has asked to be compensated for the payment, with lawyer Catherine Hohl-Chirazi alleging that it had been "cheated with shrewdness" ©Getty Images

FIFA has asked for more than CHF2.2 million (£1.8 million/$2.3 million/€2.2 million) in compensation for a payment made by former President Sepp Blatter to former UEFA President Michel Platini, which is the subject of an ongoing trial in the Swiss city of Bellinzona.

The secret payment made in 2011 for "consultancy services" performed by Platini for Blatter is the subject of an ongoing trial at the Federal Criminal Court of Bellinzona, where a decision is expected on July 8.

Blatter and Platini were banned for eight years by the FIFA Ethics Committee in relation to the payments in 2015, with this reduced to six years on appeal.

The Swiss prosecutor's office yesterday in court demanded that both former administrators be handed a suspended jail sentence of one year and eight months, far short of the maximum five-year prison sentence which the charges carry if found guilty.

Both men have always denied any wrongdoing.

Former International Olympic Committee member Blatter said earlier in the trial that the payment was part of a "gentleman's agreement" with Platini.

Platini, UEFA President from 2007 until 2015, signed a written contract with FIFA for an annual salary of CHF300,000 (£250,000/$310,000/€295,000) as Blatter's technical adviser in 1999, which was paid in full by the governing body.

The Swiss prosecutor's office has asked for Sepp Blatter, left, and Michel Platini, right, to receive a suspended jail sentence of one year and eight months ©Getty Images
The Swiss prosecutor's office has asked for Sepp Blatter, left, and Michel Platini, right, to receive a suspended jail sentence of one year and eight months ©Getty Images

FIFA lawyer Catherine Hohl-Chirazi told the court that the payment of CHF2 million (£1.6 million/$2 million/€1.9 million) in 2011 was not ratified or even discussed, and Platini did not announce that he had received the fee, as reported by Swiss newspaper Le Temps.

According to Le Temps, Hohl-Chirazi suggested that FIFA had been "cheated with shrewdness" and asked for just less than CHF2.23 million (£1.87 million/$2.30 million/€2.2 million) to be paid in compensation.

Swiss official Blatter, now 86, led FIFA from 1998 until 2015, when he fell from power amid a mass of corruption scandals at the organisation.

In 2021, he was handed an additional ban of six years and eight months by the FIFA Ethics Committee for various violations of the Code of Ethics.

Platini, elected as UEFA President in 2007, had hoped to replace Blatter as FIFA President, but his campaign was undermined by the alleged illegal payment and his career as a football administrator also ended in disgrace.

As a player, Platini had won three Ballon d'Ors and the 1984 European Championships with France.

The court case has been billed as football's "trial of the century".