By Rory Carroll and Aadi Nair
Sept 29 (Reuters) – FIFA on Tuesday accused UEFA of waging a “misinformation campaign” and trying to influence the race for its presidency as world soccer’s governing body urged a US court to reject a discovery request linked to a controversial investment proposal.
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 FIFA President Gianni Infantino over a now-abandoned plan to transfer World Cup commercial rights into a subsidiary called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE).
In its response, FIFA said UEFA’s brief contained “numerous false or misleading statements about FIFA and Infantino”.
“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.
VALUATION OF FFE DISPUTED
UEFA alleged 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 US court to authorise 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 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.”
FIFA ALLEGES UEFA ATTEMPT TO INFLUENCE ELECTION
The FFE project was abandoned in July following opposition from confederations, including UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation, over a lack of consultation, with the dispute fuelling 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.”
(Writing by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Kevin Liffey)
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