UEFA is preparing a criminal complaint in Swiss courts against FIFA President Gianni Infantino. The European football governing body is alleging criminal mismanagement in connection with a failed plan to sell a stake in future World Cup profits to private investors. This legal move follows UEFA's decision to withdraw a proposed boycott of FIFA competitions.
The dispute centers on the FIFA Forward Enterprise plan, which aimed to sell World Cup revenues for $4.2 billion to investors, including Joshua Kushner's Thrive Capital. UEFA lawyers have described this as a fraudulently off-market price. UEFA further alleges that Infantino secretly developed the proposal to transfer FIFA's commercial rights to a new subsidiary alongside a small group of advisers and investors.
To support the planned criminal complaint in Switzerland, UEFA has applied for the release of documents related to the plan's conception. The governing body has also asked a U.S. federal court for permission to obtain testimony and documents from FIFA entities in Florida. Gianni Infantino, who took over from Sepp Blatter in 2016, was widely expected to detoxify the FIFA brand.