FIFA’s legal representatives have accused UEFA of engaging in harassing behavior towards Gianni Infantino, as they submitted a court document urging a judge in Florida to reject UEFA’s plea for evidence discovery related to a proposed private investor plan for the World Cup that caused significant controversy in the sports world.
The 21-page court filing, submitted to the Southern District of Florida and reviewed by The Associated Press, argued that UEFA was incorrect in insinuating that the FIFA president aimed to personally benefit from the project that stirred up a commotion in July and was swiftly abandoned.
Following the uproar over the project, UEFA sought permission for evidence discovery in three jurisdictions — including Manhattan, where they targeted Josh Kushner’s investment firm based in New York, and Miami, where FIFA maintains an office — with the intention of aiding a potential criminal complaint against Infantino in Switzerland for alleged financial mismanagement.
FIFA’s legal team contended in the document that UEFA’s actions indicated bad faith and a motive of harassment. The filing also highlighted the upcoming deadline on November 18 for potential candidates to join the FIFA presidential election set for March in Morocco, where Infantino is vying for a final term in office until 2031.
Rejecting any potential interference in the presidential election, FIFA’s lawyers emphasized in the Monday filing that the court should not allow UEFA’s actions to influence the electoral process.
UEFA spearheaded the backlash against FIFA’s proposed Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan, which aimed to establish a subsidiary and sell a minimum of 20% of FIFA’s future commercial rights for $4.2 billion to investors led by Josh Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner, son-in-law of former U.S. President Donald Trump.
One month ago, UEFA’s legal filings alleged that the valuation presented by Infantino for the project was artificially inflated for his personal gain, with speculation suggesting he sought a lucrative position at the subsidiary, potentially earning more than his current $6 million presidential salary.
FIFA’s lawyers rebutted UEFA’s claims, asserting that Infantino never pursued a personal financial stake in the FFE project. The secretive nature of the plan was exposed in late July through media reports, prompting criticism from Kevin Lamour, FIFA’s former chief operating officer, and Carlos Cordeiro, a senior adviser to Infantino and a former partner at Goldman Sachs, who resigned in protest citing concerns over the deal’s impact on soccer.
Infantino later acknowledged mistakes in handling the sell-off plan and offered to commission an independent external review of FIFA’s governance practices. FIFA consistently maintained that the commercial spinoff was intended to expedite the global development of soccer beyond Europe’s affluent sphere of influence.
In a separate development on Monday, Infantino communicated with FIFA’s 211 member federations, expressing willingness to distribute more funds from the organization’s cash reserves. This follows calls from critics within UEFA, CONCACAF, and the Asian Football Confederation for FIFA to allocate a $10 million dividend to each member from its approximately $6 billion cash reserves.
Previously, Infantino had proposed a $20 million payout to each member from the anticipated $4.2 billion investment by Kushner and others, pending approval of the FFE project by a mid-September deadline. The FIFA Council, comprising 37 members, is scheduled to convene on October 15 in Zurich under Infantino’s leadership to discuss financial and governance-related proposals as part of efforts to manage the fallout from the divisive World Cup sell-off plan.