Sepp Blatter tells FIFA fraud trial he had "gentleman's agreement" with Platini

Sepp Blatter has described a £1.6m cash transfer made to Michel Platini as a "gentleman's agreement" as the former heads of FIFA and UEFA gave evidence on day two of their fraud trial in the Swiss federal court.

The 86-year-old, who yesterday said he could not give evidence owing to "chest pains" and "difficulty breathing", took to the stand this morning in a case brought by Switzerland's Attorney General in relation to the £1.6m payment that was made in 2011 and led to the suspension of both men.

The Swiss Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has accused Blatter and Platini of "fraud, in the alternative of misappropriation, in the further alternative of criminal mismanagement as well as of forgery of a document."

Blatter and Platini deny the charges but if found guilty they could be sentenced to five-year jail sentences. The trial is scheduled to last until June 22 with three judges expected to deliver their verdict on July 8.

Blatter told the court that he had asked Platini to be his advisor when he became FIFA president in 1998.

Platini asked to be paid one million francs (£816,000) per year but Blatter said that the global governing body could not afford that salary. Instead the three-times Ballon d'Or winner signed a contract for 300,000 francs a year and, according to Blatter, they had a verbal agreement to pay the rest of the money at a later date. His advisory role ended in 2002.

There was no mention of an additional payment in the signed contract.

"I knew when we started with Michel Platini that [300,000] is not the total, and we would look at it later," Blatter said, adding that they shook hands on a later payment. "It was an agreement between two sportsmen. I found nothing wrong with that."

Platini told the court: "I trusted the president, and knew he would pay me one day." The 66-year-old said that he believes the investigation into the payment arose because FIFA were determined to ensure he could not replace Blatter. "What FIFA did to me was scandalous," he told the judges. "And the goal was that I didn't become present of FIFA."

The court also heard that Blatter voted for the United States rather than Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup.