Fifa accused Uefa of waging a “misinformation campaign” and trying to influence the race for its presidency as world football’s governing body urged a US court to reject a discovery request linked to a controversial investment proposal. Last month Uefa asked a US federal court for permission to obtain testimony and documents for use in a planned criminal complaint in Switzerland against Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, over an abandoned plan to transfer World Cup commercial rights into a subsidiary called Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE). In its response to the filing Fifa said Uefa’s brief contained “numerous false or misleading statements about Fifa and Infantino”.
Uefa’s suggestions that Mr Infantino violated any law or ethical principle are categorically without merit.” Uefa did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Uefa alleged Infantino developed the proposal in secret with a small group of advisers and investors, bypassing Fifa’s normal governance processes and failing to consult Fifa’s council, regional confederations or member associations. The filing asked a US court to authorise discovery from Fifa (Americas), Inc and FWC2026 US, Inc, two Florida-based Fifa entities.
Uefa said in the legal filing that investors would have paid $4.2bn (£3.2bn) for a stake in FFE, valuing the business at about $20bn. It added that the valuation significantly undervalued Fifa’s commercial rights and alleged it was not subjected to an open auction or tested by an independent valuer. Last week Infantino wrote to all 211 member associations proposing an independent review of the governing body’s decision-making processes.
He is up for re-election in March, with Fifa alleging that Uefa’s legal filings were an attempt to influence that election.
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