FIFA has accused European football’s governing body UEFA of launching a “smear campaign” against Gianni Infantino amid a legal dispute over a failed attempt to attract private investors to a World Cup-related project. UEFA has filed a motion in U.S. courts demanding the disclosure of evidence linked to the controversial project and warned it is considering pursuing criminal proceedings against Infantino in Switzerland, where FIFA is headquartered.
In response, FIFA submitted its objections to a New York court, stating: “While these motions are styled as legal documents with captions and case numbers, they are nothing more than press releases in support of UEFA’s smear campaign against FIFA and its leadership.”
According to FIFA, UEFA is seeking to remove Infantino—either through his resignation or in FIFA’s presidential election in March.
Legal arguments and accusations
FIFA’s lawyers argue that “UEFA’s motion suffers from a fundamental flaw: UEFA seeks discovery to support a foreign criminal proceeding that does not exist and that UEFA, by its own admission, lacks the authority to initiate.”
FIFA’s filing also defends the project to create a $20 billion World Cup subsidiary. Gianni Infantino’s senior advisor Carlos Cordeiro called the project a “bad deal” for football when leaving his position, according to his statement to Sky News.
Sky News previously reported that as early as June, there were plans to secure up to $4.2 billion from private investors by October. However, FIFA’s legal document states this was “merely a proposal” that required approval from member associations and the governing council.
FIFA also claims that UEFA acted out of self-interest to protect its own competitions and that any disputes should be resolved within the football community, not in courts.
Economic motives and football development
In the document submitted to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, it states: “Instead of participating in this democratic process, UEFA issued a press release—the start of a multi-week smear campaign against FIFA and its leadership.”
FIFA’s filing argues that UEFA’s economic motivation was to prevent smaller nations from strengthening their financial ability to compete with Europe’s football elite.
“If football is strengthened in the developing world, global competition will increase, which will ultimately reduce UEFA’s market power and provide greater competition for its flagship tournaments,” the document says.
According to FIFA, securing funding would have allowed some smaller member associations to better develop football. This, in turn, could have led to more players from these countries choosing to represent their national teams and play in domestic leagues rather than abroad.
At the same time, FIFA’s filing does not directly address UEFA’s criticism of Infantino and does not mention other football confederations from Asia and North America, which jointly accused FIFA of a “fundamental breach of trust.”
Source: Sky News
