UEFA takes FIFA sell-off battle from boardroom to US courts

UEFA has filed US court applications seeking documents and testimony connected to FIFA’s abandoned commercial restructuring as it prepares a possible criminal complaint in Switzerland against president Gianni Infantino.The discovery requests target FIFA entities in Florida and parties involved in the proposed FIFA Forward Enterprise transaction, which would have transferred major tournament commercial rights into a new investment-backed business.UEFA’s filings describe the implied US$20bn valuation as “absurdly low” and question whether the proposed transaction represented a substantially off-market transfer of FIFA assets.The applications seek evidence that could support potential claims of criminal mismanagement against Infantino and possibly other FIFA officials or advisers. Those allegations have not been tested in court and no finding of criminal wrongdoing has been made.The proposed deal would have seen investors led by Thrive Eternal invest around US$4.2bn for a 20% interest in FIFA Forward Enterprise.UEFA argues that a valuation above US$30bn could have been supported and says the proposed price was not established through either an open competitive process or independent valuation.Its lawyers are seeking evidence to determine whether the terms amounted to what the filings call a “fraudulently off-market price”.UEFA has also challenged how the project was developed and authorised, alleging that Infantino advanced the proposal with a small group without appropriate involvement from the FIFA Council, confederations or member associations. The filings accuse Infantino of a “stunning dereliction of duty” over the governance process.Document-preservation demands have also been issued in connection with the proposed transaction, extending the dispute beyond the immediate question of whether the project will return.FIFA abandoned Forward Enterprise on August 1 after resistance from UEFA and other confederations, which had raised the possibility of withholding teams from FIFA competitions.That immediate competition threat has eased after assurances that the project will not be revived, but the legal action opens a potentially more consequential phase.US discovery could expose valuation work, investor communications and internal approval processes surrounding one of the largest commercial restructuring proposals developed during Infantino’s presidency.The dispute has therefore shifted from preventing the transaction to examining how it was conceived, valued and advanced inside FIFA.