FIFA denounces "harassment" by UEFA

'FIFA has opposed the motion filed by UEFA before the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida to obtain evidence regarding the project to create FIFA FORWARD ENTERPRISE (FFE) and has accused it of acting " in bad faith and for purposes of harassment " and " not out of a legitimate need to obtain evidence ".'

In a filing submitted in the Southern District of Florida, FIFA holds UEFA responsible for carrying out a "disinformation campaign ," in an "attempt to influence the FIFA presidential campaign," and for spreading falsehoods to the media, such as that FIFA was selling tournaments, to further its own objectives ".

'"This Court should reject any attempt to influence the FIFA presidential elections based on such arguments," states the document to which EFE had access.'

'In addition to pointing out as false the UEFA's claim that FIFA president Gianni Infantino "intended to have a personal financial interest in the FFE project", the international body maintains that this " was subject to the approval of both FIFA's member associations and the FIFA Council ".'

"The UEFA's insinuations that Mr. Infantino violated any law or ethical principle are categorically unfounded. Far from representing anything resembling mismanagement —let alone criminal mismanagement under Swiss law—it would have been a breach of duty if FIFA had not evaluated a project such as the FFE's , especially given the prevalence of similar mechanisms in the sports and entertainment market," it adds.

For FIFA, "all these failures, together with UEFA's press campaign and its conduct in this matter - including the omission of filing the application under seal of confidentiality -, demonstrate that this is a case in which the requesting party has submitted a petition under article 1782 for purposes of harassment, and not out of a legitimate need to obtain evidence. This fact alone constitutes an independent basis for denying the application ".

FIFA also claims that "UEFA—whether deliberately or out of ignorance—confuses equity value with enterprise value," by maintaining that a fair valuation of FFE would have been substantially higher than 30 billion dollars and that 20 billion "did not reflect a transaction carried out at arm's length, but rather an illicit and opaque agreement".

'" In addition to its undisputed $20 billion in equity value , FFE included secured obligations to support another $10 billion in spending aimed at expanding football development; another $4.2 billion in payments to FIFA member associations and other recurring costs associated with FIFA's non-commercial activities worth billions of dollars," it states.'

'The document emphasizes that "FFE's enterprise value was more than double the equity value and, consequently, was far higher than the figure UEFA considers fair" and that " UEFA would have known all this data if it had bothered to verify its claims before publicly criticizing the proposal or submitting the application to the federal court".'

Finally, remember that November 18 is the deadline for submitting candidacies for the FIFA presidency, for the elections to be held on March 18 in Rabat , and it questions the fact that UEFA made its request to the Florida court "disseminating misleading information about Mr. Infantino", and therefore insists that the Court should reject any attempt to influence the elections.

The UEFA sent its claim to the Florida court at the end of August under Article 158 of the Swiss Criminal Code and requested authorization to gain access to the documents related to the project, for their transfer to the Swiss justice system.

In it, he requested documents and communications from FIFA America and the 2026 World Cup relating to the origin, development, internal discussion, and public announcement of the FFE proposal, including FIFA’s internal communications and discussions, as well as communications with the investor companies - Thrive, BANN and other investors and advisors -, from the earliest date on which the transaction was discussed up to the date the documentation was submitted.

Also any valuation work carried out in relation to the FFE proposal, including materials shared with or received from any investor or advisor; the internal governance and approval process for the FFE proposal and the documentation submitted to the FIFA Council , its Congress and its board of directors at a meeting held last July 18th