The Union of European Football Associations has applied to a United States federal court for access to documents and testimony for use in a planned criminal complaint in Switzerland against FIFA President Gianni Infantino and potentially other officials and advisers.
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The contemplated proceedings concern the now-abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal, under which commercial rights linked to the men’s and women’s World Cups and the Club World Cup would have been transferred to a new FIFA subsidiary partly owned by private investors.
In an ex parte application filed under United States law, UEFA asked the court to authorise the collection of evidence from two Florida-based FIFA entities—FIFA Americas, Inc. and FWC2026 US, Inc.
UEFA said the organisations could possess documents and witnesses relevant to how the proposed transaction was conceived, structured, valued and approved.
The European football body is also seeking information from Thrive Capital, the investment firm connected to the proposed transaction, and its founder, Joshua Kushner.
The application was brought under Section 1782 of United States law, which allows an interested party in foreign proceedings to seek evidence from individuals or organisations located in the US.
UEFA said it and other interested parties were preparing to bring criminal claims in Switzerland against Infantino and possible other FIFA officials and advisers for alleged criminal mismanagement under Article 158 of the Swiss Criminal Code.
The allegations have not been determined by any court, and the legal application does not mean that Infantino or any other FIFA official has been charged or convicted of an offence.
UEFA alleged that Infantino and a small group of advisers and investors secretly developed the FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal for more than a year without consulting the FIFA Council, regional confederations or FIFA’s 211 member associations.
The plan was publicly announced by Infantino on July 28, 2026.
UEFA maintained that the FIFA Statutes gave the FIFA Council sole authority to determine how the organisation’s commercial rights should be promoted.
According to the court filing, the proposed investors would have paid approximately $4.2 billion for a 20 per cent interest in FIFA Forward Enterprise, placing the value of the new commercial entity at about $20 billion.
UEFA alleged that the proposed valuation significantly undervalued FIFA’s commercial rights and was neither determined through an open and competitive bidding process nor tested by an independent valuation.
The application claimed that Thrive Eternal, an investment vehicle controlled by Kushner and affiliated with Thrive Capital, had been selected to lead the proposed investor group.
Former Liberty Media chief executive Greg Maffei was also allegedly retained as a key commercial adviser on the transaction.
UEFA claimed that the investors would have acquired a permanent financial interest in FIFA’s commercial operations, including rights associated with its most valuable international competitions.
The FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal was met with strong opposition after it became public.
On July 30, UEFA and its 55 member associations unanimously rejected the proposed transfer of ownership interests in FIFA competitions to private investors.
They warned that they would not participate in FIFA competitions, including the World Cup, unless the proposal was withdrawn.
UEFA declared at the time that the World Cup was not an investment product and should not be surrendered to private investors.
The Asian Football Confederation and the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football subsequently joined the opposition to the proposal.
Carlos Cordeiro, Infantino’s senior adviser on global strategy and governance and a former president of the United States Soccer Federation, resigned on July 31.
UEFA’s filing said Cordeiro described the proposal as detrimental to FIFA’s member associations, football and the game’s long-term future.
FIFA abandoned the proposal on August 1 following the widespread opposition and threats of a boycott.
UEFA, however, maintained that questions remained about how the proposal was conceived and advanced within FIFA.
It alleged that some FIFA employees complained internally that they had been misled and that FIFA Secretary-General Mattias Grafström was reportedly excluded from the preparation of the proposal.
UEFA’s lawyers had earlier directed FIFA and Infantino to preserve documents, electronic communications and other materials potentially relevant to contemplated legal proceedings.
Fourteen executives were reportedly identified as persons required to preserve information in their possession or control.
FIFA and Thrive Capital had not issued detailed public responses to UEFA’s latest court application at the time of reporting.
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