Soccer-FIFA accuses of UEFA of 'misinformation campaign' in response to filing

FIFA accused UEFA of waging a "misinformation ​campaign" and trying to influence the race for its ​presidency as world soccer's governing body urged ‌a ​US court to reject a discovery request linked to a controversial investment proposal.

Last month, UEFA asked a US federal court for permission to obtain testimony and documents for ‌use in a planned criminal complaint in Switzerland against FIFA President Gianni Infantino over a now-abandoned plan to transfer World Cup commercial rights into a subsidiary called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE). In its response to the filing on Monday, FIFA said UEFA's brief ‌contained "numerous false or misleading statements about FIFA and Infantino".

"With no basis whatsoever, UEFA suggests that Mr Infantino sought to ‌profit personally from the FFE proposal," FIFA said in the document seen by Reuters. "As explained, the FFE plan was subject to approval by both the FIFA member associations and FIFA Council, and FFE would have been subject to oversight by both groups within FIFA.

"UEFA's suggestions that Mr Infantino ⁠violated any ​law or ethical principle are ⁠categorically without merit." Reuters has contacted UEFA for comment.

UEFA alleged Infantino developed the proposal in secret with a small group of advisers and investors, bypassing ⁠FIFA's normal governance processes and failing to consult FIFA's Council, regional confederations or member associations. The filing seen by Reuters asked a US ​court to authorise discovery from FIFA (AMERICAS), Inc and FWC2026 US, Inc, two Florida-based FIFA entities.

UEFA said in the ⁠legal filing that investors would have paid $4.2 billion for a stake in FIFA Forward Enterprise, valuing the business at about $20 billion. It added that the valuation ⁠significantly ​undervalued FIFA's commercial rights and alleged it was not subjected to an open auction or tested by an independent valuer.

"UEFA, whether deliberately or through ignorance, conflates equity value with enterprise value," FIFA said. "It is undisputed that FFE's 'initial equity ⁠valuation' — meaning 'the value that remains for the shareholders after any debts have been paid off' — was $20 billion.

"Materials distributed to FIFA's ⁠member associations reveal that FFE's ⁠total 'enterprise value' on the other hand — meaning the 'entire value of the business' — was well over $30 billion... "Indeed, FFE's enterprise value was well in excess of twice the equity value, and therefore ‌far above the ‌value UEFA says would be fair."

(Writing by Aadi Nair in ​Bengaluru; editing by Lincoln Feast)