FIFA’s legal team has accused UEFA of harassing Gianni Infantino in a court document filed in Florida, urging a judge to reject UEFA’s request for evidence discovery regarding a controversial World Cup private investor initiative. The 21-page filing, submitted to the court in the Southern District of Florida and obtained by The Associated Press, refuted UEFA’s claim that the FIFA president aimed to personally benefit from the project that caused uproar in July and was swiftly abandoned.
UEFA sought authorization for evidence discovery from three courts, including Manhattan and Miami, with the aim of preparing a criminal complaint against Infantino in Switzerland for alleged financial mismanagement. FIFA’s lawyers argued that UEFA’s actions were in bad faith and amounted to harassment.
The court filing also highlighted the upcoming deadline on November 18 for potential candidates to enter the FIFA presidential election scheduled for March in Morocco, where Infantino intends to run for a final term through 2031. FIFA’s legal team emphasized that any attempt to influence the election should be rejected.
After facing backlash over the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan, Infantino, who had appeared poised to win reelection unopposed, is now facing an election challenge from UEFA. The FFE plan involved creating a subsidiary to sell a portion of FIFA’s future commercial rights to investors, including Josh Kushner, at a value of $4.2 billion.
UEFA previously alleged that the valuation was inflated for Infantino’s personal gain, insinuating his interest in a lucrative position within the subsidiary. FIFA refuted these claims, stating that Infantino had no personal financial stake in the FFE project.
The controversial plan, unveiled in July, led to criticism from within FIFA, with the organization’s chief operating officer and senior adviser resigning in protest. Infantino later admitted to mishandling the sell-off plan and offered to conduct an independent external review of FIFA’s governance.
FIFA maintained that the commercial spinoff was designed to boost global soccer development beyond Europe’s affluent soccer landscape. In a separate development, Infantino communicated to FIFA member federations about the possibility of increasing payments from FIFA’s cash reserves, following pressure from various soccer bodies to distribute dividends from the organization’s substantial reserves.
The FIFA Council is scheduled to convene on October 15 to discuss financial and governance matters as Infantino addresses the fallout from the contentious World Cup sell-off proposal.
