The acquittal of Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter, retried in Switzerland in March in the fraud case that shattered the Frenchman's ambition to become FIFA president, is now final due to the lack of an appeal by the prosecution.

"The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) waives its right to appeal," thus accepting "the judgment rendered in the first and second instances," the Swiss prosecutor's office said in a statement on Thursday.

By accepting defeat, since it had twice called for suspended sentences for the accused without convincing the judges, the MPC puts an end to ten years of proceedings with heavy political implications.

"I know it was a story to prevent me from becoming FIFA president," Michel Platini said after the appeal decision, nevertheless considering himself "too old" to seek new responsibilities.

His lawyer, Dominic Nellen, said Thursday that the investigation into the three-time Ballon d'Or winner "was not justified and should never have been initiated." "The defense will now analyze the legal means to be used against those responsible for the proceedings," he added.

Michel Platini and Sepp Blatter were accused of having "illegally obtained, to the detriment of FIFA, a payment of 2 million Swiss francs" (1.8 million euros) in favor of the legendary captain of the Blues, according to the prosecution.

Both the defense and the prosecution agreed on one point: Michel Platini did advise Sepp Blatter between 1998 and 2002, during the Swiss's first term at the head of FIFA, and the two men signed a contract in 1999 agreeing to an annual remuneration of 300,000 Swiss francs, paid in full by FIFA.

But in January 2011, the former international midfielder - who in the meantime became UEFA president (2007-2015) - "claimed a claim of 2 million Swiss francs", described as a "false invoice" by the prosecution.

The two men insisted that they had agreed on an annual salary of one million Swiss francs from the outset, by an oral "gentlemen's agreement" without witnesses, and that FIFA's finances did not allow for its immediate payment to Mr. Platini.

The outbreak of the affair in mid-2015, just after the resignation of Sepp Blatter, swept away by a cascade of scandals, blocked Michel Platini's path to the presidency of FIFA, clearing the way for the Italian-Swiss Gianni Infantino, then the Frenchman's right-hand man at UEFA.