MUTTENZ, Switzerland: The Swiss public prosecutor on Tuesday requested suspended sentences of 20 months for both Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini in an appeal against their 2022 acquittal in a corruption case. An Extraordinary Appeal Court sitting in Muttenz near Basel, will hand down its decision on March 25 in a long-running legal saga which shattered the careers of Blatter, the former president of world football’s governing body FIFA, and Platini, ex-head of European body UEFA. Prosecutor Thomas Hildbrand opted not to call for prison sentences for the 88-year-old Swiss and 69-year-old Frenchman. The case began in 2015 when Blatter quit as head of FIFA in a corruption crisis. It stems from a delayed payment of two million Swiss francs (1.8 million euros) FIFA paid Platini in 2011 for consultancy services. The pair were acquitted by the Swiss Federal Court in June 2022 of charges that included “disloyal management,” “breach of trust” and “forgery of securities.” The court concluded that fraud was “not established with a likelihood bordering on certainty,” and therefore applied the general principle of criminal law according to which “the doubt must benefit the accused.” The Swiss Attorney General’s office appealed. In his three-and-a-half-hour argument on Tuesday, Hildbrand set out to dispel the defendants’ assertion that they had an “oral contract” to pay Platini in 2011 for work as a consultant between 1998 and 2002. In 2011, Platini opted not to run against Blatter, who was then reelected as FIFA president. Blatter and Platini had signed a written agreement in August 1999, before the Frenchman became UEFA president, providing for an annual payment by FIFA of 300,000 Swiss francs for consultancy work. At the beginning of 2011, Platini presented an invoice for 2 million Swiss francs. Blatter approved it and presented it to FIFA as a late salary balance. The defendants say they had agreed a yearly sum of one million Swiss francs but that this was too much for FIFA finances at the time. Hildbrand said the argument was implausible. Even if FIFA had transferred one million Swiss francs to Platini in 1999, it would still have had “more than 21 million francs in cash,” and its reserves had reached 328 million in 2002. To agree such a sum without a written record, without witnesses and without ever making provision for it in the accounts was, he said, “contrary to commercial practice” as well as to FIFA’s norms. The appeal trial, which began on Monday, is due to continue until Thursday at the latest, with closing arguments from the defense. Although FIFA, the civil party, has joined the public prosecutor’s appeal, it is not represented in Muttenz.

Andrey Rublev, the No.5 seed at this week’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, progressed to his fifth semi-final in the city on Thursday night — a benchmark reached by only two other men in the ATP 500 tournament’s 34-year history: Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. Not bad company to keep.

Argentina's Fifa World Cup-winning legend Lionel Messi opened up about his regret of not learning English as a student, saying it makes him feel "half-ignorant" while interacting with prominent personalities worldwide.

The road to Dubai World Cup night passes through one defining evening at Meydan Racecourse, and this year that spotlight shines brighter than ever on Emirates Super Saturday, the final major meeting of the 2025–2026 Dubai Racing Carnival ahead of the $30.5 million Dubai World Cup fixture on March 28.

Team Canada picked up a massive 5-3 win over Team Finland on Feb. 17. With this, they have advanced to the 4 Nations Face-Off Final and will get their rematch against Team USA.

MIAMI: Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy cruised to a St. Patrick’s Day victory at the Players Championship on Monday, defeating J.J. Spaun in a playoff at TPC Sawgrass.

Sri Lanka captain Dasun Shanaka said the relentless criticism aimed at his players has been damaging to their mental health and undermined their efforts at the Twenty20 World Cup, where they were eliminated from the group stage on Wednesday.

Round 2 of Season 3 of the Ultimate Golf Challenge promises a dramatic shift in both stage and strategy as the action moves to the championship-renowned Earth course at Jumeirah Golf Estates on February 26, home of the DP World Tour Championship.

Hershey Bears forward Hendrix Lapierre has been named AHL Player of the Week for the period ending Feb. 16.

A little more than two months have elapsed since the Rangers corpse was being examined. The question at the time: was the patient alive or not?

On every game day this season, THN Fantasy will highlight players and goalies for fantasy managers to stream or roster for the rest of the season. The recommended players and goalies are rostered in less than 50 percent of Yahoo leagues and can be selected in standard fantasy leagues or for daily fantasy games