UEFA accused of conducting a 'smear campaign' against FIFA President Gianni Infantino

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FT Desk

FIFA has accused UEFA of a "smear campaign against it and its leadership" as the fallout from Gianni Infantino's failed FIFA Forward Enterprise plans continues.

The FIFA President's FFE proposals were basically to create a new FIFA commercial subsidiary.

The idea was to bring FIFA’s money-making activities like broadcasting, sponsorship, ticketing, licensing and tournament operations into one organisation, with the aim of generating more money for football development around the world.

Under the proposal, FIFA said its 211 member associations could receive significantly increased funding between 2027 and 2030. However, the plan proved controversial, particularly because it involved outside investment and raised concerns about FIFA's governance and transparency. After opposition from several football bodies, FIFA withdrew the proposal a few days after the plans were announced.

Should private equity have got involved in the World Cup, for example, they would have a major say on where and when it was held and there were concerns that more commercially profitable geographical zones like North America would be prioritised for maximum financial gain.

Infantino received fierce criticism over the plans and UEFA is considering launching legal proceedings against him because of it, requesting all documents linked to FFE to file a complaint in a Swiss court.

UEFA accused Infantino of "criminal mismanagement" and "a fraudulently off-market price promoted by [him] for his own benefit" over the scrapped scheme.

FIFA has fought back by fiing of their own with the US courts, requesting that access to those FFE documents be deferred.

FIFA believe 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," FIFA said, as reported by BBC Sport.

FIFA claim FFE was "only a proposal" and that it would only have went through if all continental organisations, like UEFA, as well as the 211 members, agreed to it.

"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," FIFA wrote in the court filing.

"If soccer is strengthened in the developing world, global competition increases, which ultimately reduces UEFA's market power and provides more competition for its flagship tournaments," the governing body continued.

"By raising funds to allow some of FIFA's smaller member associations to better develop soccer, FFE would lead to more players from those nations choosing to represent their countries of origin and playing in their home leagues rather than playing abroad."

Infantino is scrambling trying to find support for his presidency. At the moment, UEFA, CONCACAF and the AFC are three of the continental bodies campaigning for his removal.

He is also the subject of an official complaint from the Norwegian Football Association over his relationship with United States President Donald Trump and the decision to award him the FIFA 'Peace Prize'.

FIFA is supposed to remain a politically neutral organisation.