FIFA accused European football governing body UEFA of orchestrating a coordinated “smear campaign” against President Gianni Infantino and FIFA’s leadership.
The escalation marks a major expansion of the bitter political and legal warfare between world football’s two most powerful organizations, triggered by a scrapped multi-billion-dollar commercial proposal.
The conflict stems from a short-lived proposal called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), championed by Infantino, which sought to sell a private equity stake in the World Cup and other tournaments to U.S. investment firm Thrive Capital (led by Joshua Kushner) for $4.2 billion.
Following massive backlash and threats of a tournament boycott, FIFA withdrew the plan on August 1.
Unrelenting after the plan’s collapse, UEFA filed applications in multiple U.S. courts (New York, Florida, and Colorado) seeking discovery documents from entities like Thrive Capital and JPMorgan. UEFA stated it intends to use these materials to prepare a potential criminal complaint for financial mismanagement against Infantino in Swiss courts.
In response, FIFA filed motions to intervene and block the U.S. discovery requests. In its filings, FIFA’s legal team blasted UEFA’s actions, stating: “While these applications are styled as legal pleadings with captions and docket numbers, they are little more than press releases in further support of UEFA’s smear campaign against FIFA and its leadership.”
FIFA argued that UEFA’s aggressive legal posture suffers from “fundamental defects”.
The football association asserted that UEFA lacks the legal authority or standing to initiate foreign criminal proceedings.
FIFA further claimed that UEFA’s opposition is economically motivated by a desire to keep smaller global nations financially suppressed and prevent them from challenging the dominance of the European football elite.
The public feud comes ahead of prospective leadership elections, with UEFA pushing for institutional reform and limits on presidential authority, while Infantino attempts to solidify support among global member associations.
