SWITZERLAND’s supreme court upheld the acquittal of Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser al-Khelaifi in the final appeals stage of a case that alleged wrongdoing linked to former Fifa secretary-general Jerome Valcke and the awarding of World Cup television rights.

In a separate case, Valcke’s conviction of bribery and forgery in relation to World Cup media rights in Italy and Greece was also upheld.

For Khelaifi, it is his third acquittal in five years on charges related to allegedly allowing Valcke to use a villa in Italy for free from 2013-15. The ruling was described by his lawyers as “a complete vindication.”

“From the outset, this has manifestly been a ‘trophy-hunting’ prosecution by the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland — but today, that pursuit is over,” lawyer Marc Bonnant said in a statement.

Prosecutors had tried to link the home in Sardinia, bought by a Qatari company in 2013, to Khelaifi-led broadcaster beIN Media Group getting a renewed World Cup rights deal from Fifa in a $480 million (£359m) deal.

But three Swiss federal courts — at criminal, appeals and supreme level — have now ruled there was no wrongdoing in that deal. In the Khelaifi case, Valcke was also acquitted for a third time on charges of criminal mismanagement harming Fifa, for which prosecutors had sought a prison term of 35 months.

But Valcke — who was removed from his Fifa post in 2015 and later banned from soccer over wide-ranging misconduct — was convicted again on separate charges not involving Khelaifi. Those related to forgery and kickbacks in negotiations for World Cup broadcast rights in Italy and Greece.