Peter FitzGerald and Amalia Neenan have penned an article for The Law Society Gazette on the recent decision by a Swiss court to acquit the former president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, and UEFA’s former president, Michel Platini, following an allegation that a 2011 payment of 2.2 million Swiss francs from FIFA to Platini – which Blatter had approved – was in fact a bribe.

The article notes that English football may be flying high in the wake of the Lionesses’ stunning victory in Euro 2022, but unfortunately the same cannot be said of the UK law enforcement agencies’ ability to crack down on global football-related fraud.

In particular, while other jurisdictions are taking the lead, the piece questions the lack of action on the part of the Serious Fraud Office, concluding that if it “wants UK law enforcement to live up to the success of UK football, then it needs to stop clustering around its own goal and go on the attack”.

Read the rest of the article by clicking on the link above.