FIFA Fights Back in Court Amid UEFA's Legal Threat Against President Infantino

The conflict between the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) is escalating into a full-scale legal battle.

After UEFA announced plans to file a criminal complaint against FIFA President Gianni Infantino on charges including breach of trust, FIFA has launched a legal counter-offensive by formally submitting rebuttal documents to a U.S. court.

According to the British broadcaster BBC, FIFA recently submitted documents to a U.S. court asking it to dismiss or delay UEFA's request for document disclosure.

The dispute originated from the "FIFA Forward Enterprise" (FFE) project, which was pushed by President Infantino and scrapped in July following fierce backlash.

President Infantino attempted to establish FFE as a subsidiary dedicated to World Cup commercial rights and transfer a 20% stake to the U.S. private fund Thrive Capital for 4.2 billion dollars (approx. 5.8 trillion KRW).

Although the plan was withdrawn, UEFA accused President Infantino of trying to undervalue the World Cup's worth for private gain and began preparations to file a criminal complaint against him with Swiss prosecutors.

To this end, UEFA recently applied to a U.S. court to request the disclosure of internal evidence from Thrive Capital.

As UEFA took a hardline stance, FIFA did not remain silent.

In its court submission, FIFA pointed out legal flaws, stating, "UEFA is making overly broad requests for document disclosure without any authority, using a nonexistent foreign criminal proceeding as an excuse."

FIFA also fiercely criticized UEFA, stating, "The FFE was merely a 'proposal' that could only proceed with the support of a majority of member associations and the approval of the Council. Instead of participating in normal democratic procedures, UEFA has waged weeks of smear campaigns targeting the FIFA leadership."

In particular, FIFA argued that UEFA's true motive in rebelling is to "protect the vested interests of European football."

FIFA pointed out, "If football in smaller member associations develops through FFE funding, players from those countries would remain and play in their home leagues instead of leaving for Europe. Ultimately, concerned that heightened global competition would weaken the market dominance of UEFA-hosted competitions, UEFA is interfering out of economic motives."

Thrive Capital, which became embroiled in this controversy, expressed regret, saying, "We failed to fully grasp the complex political dynamics of the global football world."

Meanwhile, UEFA has declined to comment officially while maintaining a hardline stance that "if FIFA has nothing to hide, it should disclose the documents," signaling that the conflict between the two sides will likely continue for the time being.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.