In FIFA-UEFA tussle, European body accused of ‘misinformation campaign’

FIFA has accused European football’s governing body, UEFA, of waging a “misinformation campaign” and trying to influence the race for its presidency amid a growing governance crisis in the sport.

Football’s global governing body urged a court in the United States on Tuesday to reject UEFA’s ⁠⁠discovery request linked to FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s controversial investment proposal for rights to the World Cup.

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 Infantino over a now-abandoned plan to transfer ⁠⁠World Cup commercial rights into a subsidiary called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE).

In its response, 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 a filing in the Southern District of Florida, opposing UEFA’s motion for discovery.

“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,” it said.

“UEFA’s suggestions that Mr Infantino violated any law or ethical principle are categorically without merit.”

UEFA alleged Infantino developed the proposal in secret with a small group of advisers and investors, bypassing the global body’s normal governance processes and failing to consult FIFA Council, regional confederations or member associations.

The European body said in the legal ⁠⁠filing that investors would have paid $4.2bn for a stake in FFE, valuing ⁠⁠the business at about $20bn.

It said the valuation significantly undervalued FIFA’s commercial rights and alleged it had not been 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.”

‘Attempt to influence election’

The FFE project was abandoned in July following opposition from confederations, including UEFA, the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football and the Asian Football Confederation, over a lack of consultation, with the dispute fuelling demands for ‌‌changes to FIFA’s governance.

Last week, Infantino wrote to all 211 member associations proposing an independent review of the governing body’s decision-making processes.

The Swiss administrator is up for re-election in March, and FIFA has alleged that UEFA’s legal filings are an attempt ‌‌to ‌‌influence that election.

“Just before FIFA’s election, UEFA filed this 1782 Application (and three others) spreading misinformation regarding Mr Infantino,” FIFA said.

“This court should reject any attempt to influence FIFA’s presidential election based on these grounds.”

Earlier on Monday, Infantino said he was willing ‌‌‌‌‌‌‌‌to discuss the disbursement of millions of dollars to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠its member associations with the exact ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠amount of the distributions to individual nations set to be on the agenda of the FIFA Council’s October 15 meeting.