ZURICH -- It was the day his enemies had been waiting for and his supporters feared. On Friday, the Swiss Attorney General announced it had opened criminal proceedings against FIFA president Sepp Blatter on suspicion of criminal mismanagement and misappropriation.
At the same time, the statement appeared to implicate UEFA president Michel Platini, a one-time Blatter ally turned fierce critic. One of the allegations against Blatter is that he made a "disloyal payment" of 2 million Swiss Francs ($2.05m) in February 2011 to Platini, shortly before the UEFA president decided not to stand against him for the FIFA presidency
Here's the lowdown on the rest of what you need to know as the FIFA scandal unravels before our eyes.