FIFA has accused UEFA of waging a “misinformation campaign” and attempting to influence the upcoming presidential election as the world football governing body urged a US court to reject a discovery request linked to its controversial investment proposal.
UEFA last month asked a US federal court for permission to obtain testimony and documents for use in a planned criminal complaint in Switzerland against FIFA President Gianni Infantino over an abandoned proposal to transfer World Cup commercial rights into a subsidiary known as FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE).
In its response, FIFA said UEFA’s court filing contained “numerous false or misleading statements about FIFA and Infantino,” rejecting allegations that Infantino sought to personally profit from the FFE proposal.
“With no basis whatsoever, UEFA suggests that Mr Infantino sought to profit personally from the FFE proposal,” FIFA said in a filing before the Southern District of Florida opposing UEFA’s discovery request.
FIFA said the FFE proposal was subject to approval by FIFA’s member associations and FIFA Council, while the subsidiary would also have been subject to oversight by both bodies. It added that UEFA’s suggestions that Infantino violated any law or ethical principle were “categorically without merit.”
UEFA alleged that Infantino developed the FFE proposal secretly with a small group of advisers and investors, bypassing FIFA’s established governance processes and failing to consult the FIFA Council, regional confederations or member associations.
The filing asked the US court to authorise discovery from FIFA (AMERICAS), Inc. and FWC2026 US, Inc., two FIFA entities based in Florida.
According to UEFA’s filing, investors would have paid $4.2 billion for a stake in FFE, giving the business an estimated valuation of about $20 billion.
UEFA argued that the valuation significantly undervalued FIFA’s commercial rights and alleged that it was neither subjected to an open auction nor assessed by an independent valuer.
FIFA, however, disputed UEFA’s interpretation of the figures, saying the confederation had conflated equity value with enterprise value.
“UEFA, whether deliberately or through ignorance, conflates equity value with enterprise value,” FIFA said.
FIFA said the “initial equity valuation” of FFE was $20 billion, referring to the value remaining for shareholders after debts had been paid.
It added that materials distributed to FIFA’s member associations showed FFE’s total enterprise value was “well over $30 billion.”
The FFE project was abandoned in July following opposition from several confederations, including UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation, over concerns about the consultation process.
The dispute has since fuelled calls for changes to FIFA’s governance.
Last week, Infantino wrote to FIFA’s 211 member associations proposing an independent review of the governing body’s decision-making processes.
Infantino is seeking re-election as FIFA president in March, and FIFA has alleged that UEFA’s legal action is aimed at influencing the election.
“Just before FIFA’s election, UEFA filed this 1782 Application (and three others) spreading misinformation regarding Mr Infantino,” FIFA said.
“This court should reject any attempt to influence FIFA’s presidential election based on these grounds.”
Boluwatife Enome
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