UEFA considers legal action
The governing body of European football, UEFA, is actively considering legal action against FIFA President Gianni Infantino, venture capitalist Joshua Kushner, and other individuals. This potential legal action stems from a plan to privatize a portion of the World Cup‘s commercial operations. A letter sent to Infantino, which has been seen, indicates that UEFA is contemplating “legal action, arbitration, and/or regulatory complaints.”
The proposed plan involves transferring FIFA’s commercial rights and tournament operations to a private entity. This entity would operate in partnership with Thrive Capital, Kushner’s venture capital company, allowing private investors to acquire a 20 percent stake. This proposal has led to significant fallout, with the English Football Association also set to withdraw its support for Infantino.
UEFA has requested the immediate identification, location, and preservation of all relevant documents and electronically stored information. This includes email, instant messages (such as WhatsApp, Signal, Teams, and Slack), SMS, written correspondence, and meeting notes. The request covers materials involving any FIFA officer, employee, committee member, consultant, agent, member association, confederation, broadcaster, sponsor, or financial institution.
These obligations, according to UEFA, arise independently of any internal retention policy and supersede any routine document destruction or deletion policies. The request also specifically mentions documents related to the payment structure for FIFA member associations, including its design, modeling, legal basis, approval, and communications to member associations.
Widespread opposition and calls for transparency
Infantino‘s leadership has faced public questioning from various football governing bodies. Both UEFA and Concacaf have released statements criticizing the plans to create a commercial subsidiary, named Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE), to manage its main events, including its World Cups. External investors would have been able to purchase stakes in this new subsidiary.
Infantino had written to all 211 FIFA member associations, stating they would receive $40m if they supported his proposal. A deadline of 19 September was set for member associations to access an initial $20m. Thrive Eternal was expected to lead the proposed investor group for FFE, with Thrive being an American venture capital firm founded by Joshua Kushner.
The pressure on Infantino is growing, with Wales publicly withdrawing its backing for his continued presidency. The Asian Football Federation (AFC) has expressed solidarity with UEFA and Concacaf in their opposition. However, Qatar, Lebanon, Kuwait, and Sri Lanka have pledged their support for Infantino‘s leadership to continue.
Potential for emergency meeting
The feud between FIFA and UEFA has escalated significantly. UEFA‘s demand for the preservation of evidence is seen as a move to intensify pressure on Infantino and other officials named in their letter. The request for documents to be retained, even overriding internal destruction policies, highlights the seriousness of UEFA‘s concerns regarding the scrapped plans.
There is uncertainty whether the threat of legal action and the withdrawal of support from European member associations will prompt Infantino to reconsider his position. However, UEFA hopes these actions will help secure the 19 votes needed from the 37 FIFA Council members to force an emergency meeting. Such a meeting could potentially lead to a demand for Infantino to step down.
The FIFA Council consists of 37 members, with UEFA holding nine, AFC seven, Concacaf five, Africa six, Conmebol five, and Oceania three. Infantino and secretary general Mattias Grafstrom complete the council. A motion to call an emergency meeting would require 19 members to trigger it, and the meeting would need to occur within two weeks. UEFA is currently working to convince countries outside Europe and Concacaf to join the opposition, acknowledging that support from only these two confederations might not be sufficient to unseat him.
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Source: politico.eu
