Europe’s governing body for soccer, which oversees 55 member nations, is seeking to gather evidence through filings in United States courts for a potential legal challenge against FIFA president Gianni Infantino for his now-abandoned plan to sell a $4.2 billion stake in the World Cup.
Multiple reports Thursday said that UEFA is preparing for “criminal proceedings,” with ESPN reporting that a potential complaint against Infantino would be filed in Switzerland, which is the home of FIFA headquarters.
Reports indicate that UEFA already has filed documents in a Manhattan court in an effort to obtain evidence connected to a plan to sell a stake in the World Cup to a United States-based investment fund run by Joshua Kushner, who was part of a duo that recently agreed to purchase the Los Angeles Lakers for $12.5 billion.
ESPN reported that the filing is 60 pages and was also submitted to FIFA’s North America headquarters in Florida, as well as to Thrive Capital Management and JP Morgan, both in New York.
According to the legal filings, UEFA’s claim is that a 20% stake at $4.2 billion was extremely undervalued and that a proper value assessment was never completed. Infantino’s plan, which involved creating a subsidiary that would run FIFA’s commercial events, was abandoned after backlash from member federations.
ESPN reported that other FIFA officials might also be named in the complaint and accused of financial mismanagement under “Swiss Criminal Code.”
UEFA has called for Infantino to resign, as have CONCACAF and AFC. CONCACAF oversees the combined North American, Central American and Caribbean region, while AFC oversees all of Asia.
Infantino is currently in his second term as FIFA president and has already expressed an intention to run for his third and final term in a March election.
“Should the current FIFA president nevertheless seek another mandate, UEFA will join forces with its partner confederations to ensure that member associations are offered a credible alternative — one committed to integrity, accountability, development and genuine institutional change,” UEFA said in a statement.
“FIFA has currently billions of dollars in reserves. This money belongs to the member associations. … The question is therefore why the FIFA president believed he needed outside investors to expand development funding.”
–Field Level Media
