UEFA Pursues Legal Action to Remove FIFA President Gianni Infantino

UEFA is preparing a legal strategy to remove FIFA President Gianni Infantino from office. The European football body is seeking the release of documents from a FIFA office in Miami through a US District Court in South Florida. These documents relate to a now abandoned plan by Infantino to sell stakes in World Cup tournaments to investors and bundle commercial rights into a new subsidiary called FIFA Forward Enterprise. UEFA intends to use this information to trigger a criminal investigation in Switzerland on suspicion of unfaithful business management.

UEFA alleges that Infantino advanced the plan in secret without involving FIFA bodies as required by statutes. The organization claims that the proposed sale of shares to investors, including Joshua Kushner and Greg Maffei, undervalued the entity. According to UEFA, the proposed valuation of approximately 20 billion dollars was absurdly low, as they estimate the value to be at least 30 billion dollars. In response to the crisis, UEFA has suspended a previously threatened boycott of FIFA competitions for the coming season.

While center-right sources detail the specific financial discrepancies and the legal mechanisms of the Miami filing, they also note that the opposition may not be fully unified. One center-right report highlights that only 35 of 55 UEFA members were present at a recent meeting in Monaco and suggests that UEFA is avoiding a direct frontal collision by pausing the boycott. A center source focuses on the immediate development of the complaint and the suspension of the boycott.