Uefa Pursuing Criminal Legal Action Against Fifa and Its President Gianni Infantino
BBC Sport
By Daniel Austin
BBC Sport senior journalist
Published 35 minutes ago
Uefa is pursuing criminal legal proceedings against Fifa and its president, Gianni Infantino, over a scrapped plan to sell stakes in the World Cup and its other competitions to private investors.
Documents seen by BBC Sport reveal an application has been made by European football’s governing body requesting access to evidence and documents for use in proceedings in Switzerland against both Infantino and Fifa.
In the application, Uefa claims Infantino engineered the plan to enrich himself and potential private investors:
"In truth, it was a vehicle for Infantino and that small circle to acquire a permanent stake in and otherwise profit from Fifa’s most valuable assets to the detriment of Fifa, its members, and other parties within the football family."
Uefa further alleges the valuation of the stakes to be sold was not independently verified and would have been offered too cheaply.
The application adds:
"Under the terms Infantino announced, those investors stood to acquire a permanent financial interest in Fifa’s commercial arm for $4.2bn, implying an absurdly low enterprise value of only approximately $20bn… a figure that was neither the product of an open, competitive auction, nor tested by any independent valuer."
Uefa is applying to a court in Florida, where the businesses Fifa operated for the 2026 World Cup are based, in an attempt to access files to be used to pursue the criminal charges in Switzerland at a later stage.
They claim criminal proceedings may also be brought against other Fifa officials.
"Uefa and other interested parties are preparing to bring criminal claims in Switzerland against Infantino and possibly other Fifa officials and advisors for criminal mismanagement."
Uefa insists the plan was concocted without their knowledge or that of other key stakeholders in football, and that it had been long in development.
