FIFA on Tuesday accused UEFA of waging a “misinformation campaign” aimed at influencing its presidential race, as world football’s governing body urged a U.S. court to reject a request for evidence related to a controversial investment proposal.
Last month, UEFA asked a U.S. federal court for permission to obtain testimony and documents that it could use in a planned criminal complaint in Switzerland against FIFA President Gianni Infantino over a now-abandoned proposal to transfer World Cup commercial rights to a subsidiary called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE).
In its response, FIFA said UEFA’s filing contained “numerous false or misleading statements” about the organization and Infantino, and accused European football’s governing body of seeking to use the legal process to influence the presidential race.
“With no basis whatsoever, UEFA suggests that Mr. Infantino sought to profit personally from the FFE proposal,” FIFA said in a filing in the Southern District of Florida opposing UEFA’s motion for discovery.
“As explained, the FFE plan was subject to approval by both the FIFA member associations and FIFA Council, and FFE would have been subject to oversight by both groups within FIFA.
“UEFA’s suggestions that Mr. Infantino violated any law or ethical principle are categorically without merit.”
UEFA declined to comment.
UEFA alleged that 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 seen by Reuters asked a U.S. court to authorize 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 $4.2 billion for a stake in FIFA Forward Enterprise, valuing the business at about $20 billion.
It said the valuation significantly undervalued FIFA’s commercial rights and alleged that it had not been subjected to an open auction or tested by an independent valuer.
“UEFA, whether deliberately or through ignorance, conflates equity value with enterprise value,” FIFA said.
“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 reveal that FFE’s total ‘enterprise value,’ on the other hand, meaning the ‘entire value of the business,’ was well over $30 billion ...
“Indeed, FFE’s enterprise value was well in excess of twice the equity value, and therefore far above the value UEFA says would be fair.”
The FFE project was abandoned in July following opposition from confederations, including UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation, over a lack of consultation. The dispute has fueled demands for changes to FIFA’s governance.
Last week, Infantino wrote to all 211 member associations proposing an independent review of the governing body’s decision-making processes.
The Swiss administrator is up for re-election in March, and FIFA has alleged that UEFA’s legal filings are an attempt to influence that 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.”
