September 29: FIFA has accused UEFA of “harassment” and running “a disinformation campaign” in its latest filing in a US court against the European confederation’s discovery motion.
Represented by global law firm Linklaters, world soccer’s governing body demanded a Florida court reject UEFA’s request to see all evidence related to FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s failed FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan.
In a 21-page submission, FIFA’s lawyers write: “UEFA’s conduct shows that its request was made in bad faith and for the purpose of harassment.”
The filing also claims that UEFA notified the media of its application before it was filed, “ensuring press coverage of its allegations before any defendant had the opportunity to be heard.”
In addition, FIFA’s lawyers claim that “UEFA’s filing is a transparent way of trying to insulate it from responsibility for selling falsehoods to the media, such as FIFA selling tournaments, to suit its own goals” and that it contains “numerous false or misleading statements about FIFA and Mr. Infantino.”
In late August, UEFA submitted to various US courts, including New York and Florida, seeking documents and witnesses for use in a planned Swiss criminal trial.
FIFA, however, has described this as an attempt to influence next year’s presidential election. Officials have until November 18 to present their candidacy, but so far UEFA, which has led the charge against Infantino, has not put forward a candidate. Next week, the European confederation will meet in Berlin.
FIFA lawyers accuse UEFA of “spreading misinformation” about Infantino and write that the court “must reject any attempt to influence the FIFA presidential election for these reasons.”
The filing also says: “Far from representing anything approaching mismanagement, let alone criminal mismanagement under Swiss law, it would have been a breach of duty if FIFA had not assessed a project like FFE, especially given the prevalence of similar vehicles in the sports and entertainment market.”
UEFA argued in its own legal filing that investors would have paid $4.2 billion for a stake in FFE, valuing the business at around $20 billion, raising further questions about Infantino’s motives. But FIFA has dismissed claims that Infantino was seeking to enrich himself from the proposal.
FIFA’s presidency is limited to three four-year terms, but under the FFE scheme, the FIFA chief was accused of trying to get himself a $30m salary as commissioner.
“Without any basis, UEFA suggests that Mr Infantino sought to benefit personally from the FFE’s proposal,” FIFA’s lawyers wrote. “As explained, the FFE’s plan was subject to the approval of both FIFA’s member associations and the FIFA Council, and the FFE would have been subject to the oversight of both groups within FIFA.
“UEFA’s suggestions that Mr Infantino violated any law or ethical principle are categorically without merit.”
Infantino has been pressured to resign, but has doubled down instead. He said he is open to a governance review and possible FIFA reform, but confirmed he will run again. He was recently in the Caribbean and attended the opening of the Latvian Football Federation (LFF) headquarters on Monday.
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at (email protected)
