FIFA accuses UEFA of running a smear campaign

FIFA has accused UEFA of using US courts to advance what it called a smear campaign against the world football body and its leadership.

The dispute concerns UEFA’s requests for documents tied to FIFA’s controversial plan to sell stakes in the World Cup to investors and individual member associations. FIFA announced the plan in July, drawing widespread criticism. UEFA, led by Aleksander Čeferin, threatened to boycott the World Cup unless FIFA abandoned it, although it later withdrew the boycott threat after FIFA yielded to public pressure.

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Those filings are little more than press releases to further support UEFA’s smear campaign against FIFA and its leadership

Last week, UEFA filed requests in three US states seeking documents connected to the plan and Thrive Capital, whose lead investor is Joshua Kushner. UEFA says access to the material could support a lawsuit in Switzerland and that the case meets the requirements for consideration there. FIFA has asked US judges to reject those requests.

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would have no legal interest because it has not suffered financial loss

“Those filings are little more than press releases to further support UEFA’s smear campaign against FIFA and its leadership,” FIFA said in court documents reviewed by AFP. The organization also argued that UEFA had no right to seek its internal records because no criminal proceedings had opened in Switzerland or elsewhere. Even if proceedings existed, FIFA said, UEFA “would have no legal interest because it has not suffered financial loss.”

FIFA said disclosure of correspondence involving Infantino, other officials and advisers would directly harm its interests and expose sensitive information. UEFA has repeatedly called for Infantino’s removal and has said FIFA should again be run as an institution serving football rather than as “an instrument of individual power.” Infantino hopes to win a fourth and final term without opposition after next year’s World Cup. Concacaf President Victor Montagliani is viewed as his likeliest challenger, while Čeferin has said he will not run.

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an instrument of individual power