Fifa has accused Uefa of waging a “misinformation campaign” against Gianni Infantino and of trying to influence the race for football’s presidency, as world football’s governing body urged a US court to reject a discovery request linked to a controversial investment proposal.
The dispute centres on a plan to move World Cup commercial rights into a subsidiary called Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE), a proposal that was abandoned in July. Last month Uefa asked a US federal court for permission to obtain testimony and documents for use in a planned criminal complaint in Switzerland against Infantino, Fifa’s president. The discovery request concerns two Florida-based Fifa entities, Fifa (Americas), Inc and FWC2026 US, Inc. Uefa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In its filing in the southern district of Florida opposing Uefa’s motion, Fifa said Uefa’s brief contained “numerous false or misleading statements about Fifa and Infantino”. The governing body rejected what it described as a suggestion, made “with no basis whatsoever”, that Infantino sought to profit personally from the FFE proposal. Fifa said the plan was subject to approval by both its member associations and its council, and that FFE would have been subject to oversight by both groups within Fifa. It added that Uefa’s suggestions that Infantino violated any law or ethical principle were “categorically without merit”.
Uefa’s account of the proposal is markedly different. It alleged that Infantino developed the plan 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 two sides also disagree sharply over the financial terms. Uefa said investors would have paid $4.2bn (£3.2bn) for a stake in FFE, valuing the business at about $20bn, and argued that figure significantly undervalued Fifa’s commercial rights, adding that it was not subjected to an open auction or tested by an independent valuer. Fifa countered that Uefa, “whether deliberately or through ignorance, conflates equity value with enterprise value”, saying it was undisputed that FFE’s initial equity valuation — the value remaining for shareholders after debts are paid off — was $20bn. According to Fifa, materials distributed to its member associations showed FFE’s total enterprise value was well over $30bn, more than twice the equity value and therefore far above the figure Uefa considers fair.
The FFE project was dropped in July after opposition from confederations including Uefa, Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation, which objected over a lack of consultation. The row has fuelled 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. He is up for re-election in March.
Fifa framed the timing of Uefa’s legal action as an attempt to shape that vote. “Just before Fifa’s election, Uefa filed this 1782 Application (and three others) spreading misinformation regarding Mr Infantino,” the filing states. “This court should reject any attempt to influence Fifa’s presidential election based on these grounds.”