FIFA has formally accused UEFA of orchestrating a misinformation campaign aimed at influencing its upcoming presidential election. In a filing submitted to a United States federal court in the Southern District of Florida, the global football authority urged judges to dismiss several discovery requests brought forward by its European counterpart.
The legal dispute centers on an abandoned investment initiative known as FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), which proposed transferring World Cup commercial rights into a subsidiary. Last month, UEFA petitioned the US court for access to documents and testimony, intending to use the evidence in a planned criminal complaint in Switzerland against FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
Responding to these motions, FIFA claimed that UEFA’s filings are riddled with false or misleading statements. Specifically, the global body rejected assertions that Infantino sought personal profit from the FFE proposal. FIFA maintained that the plan was subject to oversight by both the FIFA Council and its member associations, asserting that any suggestions of legal or ethical violations by the president are entirely meritless.
UEFA had previously alleged that the FFE proposal was developed in secret by a small cadre of advisers, effectively bypassing established governance protocols. Furthermore, the European body claimed the initiative significantly undervalued commercial rights, estimating that investors would have purchased a stake at a valuation of $20 billion without the transparency of an open auction. According to the European body, In the legal filing that investors would have paid $4.2bn for a stake in FFE, valuing the business at about $20bn.
Countering these figures, FIFA accused UEFA of conflating equity value with enterprise value. The governing body clarified that while the initial equity valuation was indeed $20 billion, the total enterprise value exceeded $30 billion. FIFA argued this figure is more than double the amount UEFA currently labels as fair market value, suggesting either ignorance or deliberate deception on the part of the European governing body. “It is undisputed that FFE’s ‘initial equity valuation’ — meaning ‘the value that remains for the shareholders after any debts have been paid off’ — was $20 billion … Materials distributed to FIFA’s member associations.
The FFE project was ultimately shelved in July following significant pushback from various regional confederations, including UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation, and the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, largely due to concerns regarding consultation processes. This friction has fueled broader demands for institutional reform within the organization.
In response to mounting internal pressure, Infantino contacted all 211 member associations last week to propose an independent review of current decision-making processes. With the presidential election scheduled for March, FIFA argues that UEFA’s recent legal actions are timed specifically to undermine Infantino’s candidacy.
“Just before FIFA’s election, UEFA filed this 1782 Application and three others spreading misinformation regarding Mr Infantino,” the filing stated, urging the court to deny any attempts to leverage these legal channels for electoral influence.
Separately, Infantino expressed openness on Monday to discussing the distribution of funds to member associations. The specifics regarding individual financial allocations are slated for review at the FIFA Council’s meeting on October 15. According to earlier on Monday, Infantino, He was willing to discuss the disbursement of millions of dollars to its member associations with the exact amount of the distributions to individual nations set to be on the agenda of the FIFA Council’s October 15 meeting.
