UEFA reportedly threatened Gianni Infantino with legal action over his botched plan to sell off the World Cup to private investors.
The FIFA president was forced to abandon a hugely controversial proposal to sell stakes in the tournament to a group led by Josh Kushner, the brother of Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared, on Saturday, following a major revolt from the footballing world.
That heaped the pressure on Infantino, with UEFA subsequently declaring a loss of confidence in the Italian-Swiss administrator.
European football’s governing body had previously led the rebellion, announcing on Thursday that their 55 member nations would boycott the World Cup if the plans weren’t scrapped.
And now, according to The Telegraph, UEFA threatened to go to court over the scheme, which was known as FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), in a letter they sent to Infantino on Friday.
The report adds that UEFA also wrote to Kushner, Greg Maffei, JPMorgan and OpenEconomics, and said they were ‘actively considering legal action, arbitration, and/or regulatory complaints’ as a result of the collapsed proposal.
UEFA reportedly threatened Gianni Infantino with legal action over his botched World Cup plan
FIFA president Infantino pictured with his UEFA counterpart Aleksander Ceferin in 2024
As reported in The Telegraph, the letter to Infantino read: ‘Uefa hereby gives formal notice that it is actively considering legal action, arbitration, and/or regulatory complaints (together, the “proceedings”) arising out of and in connection with the FFE plan proposed by Fifa and all related matters as further described below.
‘You and Fifa are required to take immediate steps to identify, locate, and preserve all documents and electronically stored information described in this notice that are in your or Fifa’s possession, custody, or control.’
UEFA went on to warn FIFA that ‘any destruction, deletion, alteration, concealment or loss of relevant materials’ after their letter ‘may constitute spoliation of evidence’.
They then refused to rule out further action if any of the aforementioned actions took place.
The letter also insisted that FIFA must ensure that certain individuals, including Infantino, Arsene Wenger, FIFA’s chief of global football development, secretary general Mattias Grafstrom and Kevin Lamour, FIFA’s chief operating officer, ‘specifically preserve all such materials in their possession’.
Kushner was expected to lead the proposed investor group through his Thrive Eternal fund, while Maffei, who is a Trump donor, was also set to be involved.
JPMorgan and OpenEconomics were reported as being involved in the search for investors.
UEFA also wrote to Joshua Kushner, who was expected to lead the group of private investors
Speaking on Saturday as he announced the abandonment of his plans, Infantino said: ‘The FIFA Forward Enterprise project was intended to provide a basis for further strengthening our FIFA Member Associations and our sport worldwide, especially in those countries where support is most needed.
‘And more so, as we said from the outset, to do this only if a majority of the FIFA Member Associations were in support and always subject to a consultation process with them, the FIFA Council, the Confederations and wider stakeholders.
‘Having listened carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place.’
He continued: ‘Our purpose has always been – and will always be – to unite and improve. As a result, this proposal will not proceed.
‘Moving forward, my intent is to bring all interested parties back together in the coming days and weeks in the spirit of shared interest in our game, and with the objective to continue growing football everywhere, and particularly in those countries that mostly need our support.’
The statement marked an embarrassing u-turn for Infantino, given it came less than 24 hours after he attempted to clarify his plans and blamed the media for misconstruing them.
It remains to be seen what happens to the FIFA president, with Infantino having previously been expected to run unopposed in the governing body’s elections next March.
That may change now, while FIFA member nations could trigger a vote of no confidence to oust Infantino. The threshold to initiate the process is 46 FIFA member associations. For context, UEFA have 55 members.
