FIFA Accuses UEFA of ‘Smear Campaign’ in World Cup Rights Row

Casablanca – FIFA has accused UEFA of conducting a “smear campaign” against the global governing body and its leadership, escalating an increasingly bitter dispute over the abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) investment project.

According to BBC Sport, FIFA made the accusation in a filing to a federal court in New York after UEFA sought access to documents and testimony that could potentially be used in criminal proceedings in Switzerland.

The legal dispute centers on FFE, a proposed FIFA commercial entity that would have controlled certain commercial rights linked to the men’s and women’s World Cups.

FIFA pushes back against UEFA request

UEFA last week submitted an emergency application to a New York federal court seeking evidence from US-based individuals and organizations connected to the proposal.

The European governing body is considering whether to pursue criminal action in Switzerland against Infantino and other FIFA officials over the project, which UEFA has questioned on both procedural and financial grounds.

In its response, FIFA asked the court to delay a decision on UEFA’s request or allow FIFA to formally oppose it.

“While these applications are styled as legal pleadings with captions and docket numbers, they are little more than press releases in further support of UEFA’s smear campaign against FIFA and its leadership,” FIFA said in the filing, according to BBC Sport.

FIFA also argued that UEFA’s request had a fundamental legal problem because it was seeking evidence for a foreign criminal proceeding that does not currently exist.

Dispute over FIFA Forward Enterprise

FIFA has maintained that FFE was only a proposal and could not have gone ahead without the support of a majority of its 211 member associations and approval from the FIFA Council.

The governing body also rejected the suggestion that the project was developed without the necessary oversight, arguing that the proposal would ultimately have been subject to FIFA’s established decision-making process.

UEFA, however, has raised questions about how the project was developed and valued. According to BBC Sport, the European body has accused Infantino of “criminal mismanagement” and questioned the proposed valuation of the World Cup commercial rights.

UEFA reportedly argued that the valuation was not established through an open competitive process or independently assessed.

$4.2 billion investment proposal

The proposed FFE structure involved US venture capitalist Joshua Kushner and his company Thrive, which had held discussions with Infantino over a potential $4.2 billion investment for a 20% stake in a new FIFA commercial subsidiary.

The plan was abandoned in July after details of the proposal became public and triggered significant opposition.

At the time, FIFA said the project could have substantially increased the funding distributed to each national association for the 2027-2030 cycle, raising the amount from around £5.9 million to £14.7 million.

Kushner later expressed regret over his involvement in the proposal, saying the group had underestimated the political dynamics surrounding global football.

The latest court filings mark a significant escalation in the dispute, with UEFA continuing to examine the abandoned investment plan while FIFA seeks to prevent or delay access to evidence in the United States.