Fifa has accused Uefa of conducting a “smear campaign against it and its leadership” as the dispute over Gianni Infantino’s abandoned plan to sell a stake in the World Cup commercial business intensifies.
The world governing body has filed papers in a US court opposing or delaying Uefa’s request for access to documents relating to the proposed Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) investment scheme.
Uefa submitted its own legal papers last week, seeking evidence from Fifa and warning that it could make a criminal complaint in Switzerland. It accused Infantino of “criminal mismanagement” and promoting “a fraudulently off-market price” for his own benefit.
Fifa’s response, seen by BBC Sport, asks the court to defer permission for the disclosure requested by Uefa or reject it by the end of the month.
Its lawyers argue that Uefa’s case “suffers from a fundamental defect” and contains “legal deficiencies”.
“Uefa seeks discovery in aid of a foreign criminal proceeding that does not exist and that Uefa admittedly lacks the authority to initiate. Despite that threshold problem, Uefa asks this court to authorise sweeping discovery about the FFE.”
Fifa said the creation of FFE had “only” been a proposal and could have gone ahead only if it secured majority support from member associations, along with the “relevant approvals of the Fifa Council”.
“Rather than participate in that democratic process, Uefa issued a press release – the beginning of a weeks-long smear campaign against Fifa and its leadership,” it said in the filing.
The organisation also alleged that Uefa had an economic interest in preventing smaller countries from gaining the “financial strength to compete with the European elite”.
“If soccer is strengthened in the developing world, global competition increases, which ultimately reduces Uefa’s market power and provides more competition for its flagship tournaments,” Fifa said.
“By raising funds to allow some of Fifa’s smaller member associations to better develop soccer, FFE would lead to more players from those nations choosing to represent their countries of origin and playing in their home leagues rather than playing abroad.”
Uefa has declined to comment. However, BBC Sport has been told that people inside the organisation believe Fifa should release the documents and accelerate the proceedings if it has nothing to conceal.
The dispute has placed Uefa at the forefront of opposition to Infantino, who is facing calls to resign from three confederations.
Uefa has also asked a New York court to approve an order requiring testimony and documents from venture capitalist Joshua Kushner and his company Thrive Eternal. Kushner, the brother of US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, was due to become the lead investor in FFE.
Thrive had discussed a $4.2bn (£3.1bn) investment with Infantino for a 20% share in a new Fifa commercial subsidiary. The proposal was dropped days after details emerged in July and triggered a major backlash.
Fifa had said the scheme would raise the amount distributed to each national association during the 2027-2030 cycle from £5.9m to £14.7m.
Kushner said on Sunday that he regretted becoming involved with FFE.
“While we stand behind the motivations of FFE, we failed to appreciate the political dynamics of global football, and the lengths some would go to… had we known what this would devolve into, we would not have gotten involved.”
Uefa is also seeking documents from American financier Greg Maffei, who acted as a key adviser on the proposal.
Although Uefa says Kushner and Maffei are not expected to be defendants in any future legal proceedings, it claims they first discussed the FFE idea in July 2025. It also says Infantino had discussed the underlying concept with Kushner for almost a year before the terms sheet was signed.
Uefa’s lawyers further argue that the World Cup was intentionally valued at about £15bn. They say that figure was “neither the product of an open, competitive auction, nor tested by any independent valuer”, and claim Infantino did not consult Fifa’s hierarchy about the plan.
