Fifa accuses UEFA of ‘smear campaign’ against Infantino
FIFA has accused UEFA of a “smear campaign against it and its leadership” in a challenge to litigation over president Gianni Infantino’s scrapped plan to sell off stakes in the World Cup to private investors.
Last week European football’s governing body filed legal papers in the US requesting disclosure of evidence and documents from FIFA as part of potential criminal claims in Switzerland.
In a dramatic escalation of the controversy, UEFA accused Infantino of “criminal mismanagement” and “a fraudulently off-market price promoted by [him] for his own benefit” over the now-shelved FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) scheme.
However, the world governing body FIFA has now responded with court filings lodged in the US – and seen by the BBC – requesting that permission for access to documents be deferred, or opposed by the end of the month.
FIFA claims UEFA’s argument “suffers from a fundamental defect” and “legal deficiencies”.
“UEFA seeks discovery in aid of a foreign criminal proceeding that does not exist and that UEFA admittedly lacks the authority to initiate. Despite that threshold problem, UEFA asks this court to authorise sweeping discovery about the FFE.”
It said it had “made clear” that the creation of FFE was “only a proposal”, adding that it could have only proceeded on the condition that the majority of member associations supported it and “the relevant approvals of the FIFA Council”.
“Rather than participate in that democratic process, UEFA issued a press release – the beginning of a weeks-long smear campaign against FIFA and its leadership,” it wrote in the court filing.