FIFA accuses UEFA of 'smear campaign' as US court battle over Infantino escalates

FIFA has accused UEFA of orchestrating a “smear campaign against it and its leadership” in a formal US court filing, marking a sharp escalation in the public feud between football’s two most powerful governing bodies.

The retaliation came after UEFA’s lawyers filed a 56-page document in a US federal court declaring that the European body is “preparing to bring criminal claims in Switzerland against” FIFA president Gianni Infantino for “criminal mismanagement”. Those claims relate to the now-abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal — a plan to sell commercial stakes in the World Cup to private investors that drew widespread condemnation and threatened to fracture the sport.

FIFA’s motion to intervene in the US proceedings argued that the FFE was “only a proposal” that would have required approval from a majority of FIFA’s member associations and the FIFA Council before taking effect. “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,” the filing stated.

FIFA’s lawyers also accused UEFA’s legal submissions of containing “legal deficiencies” and alleged that the European body’s true motivation was to prevent developing nations from gaining the financial strength to challenge the established European elite. “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 filing read.

FIFA went further, arguing that the FFE would have encouraged players from smaller nations to represent their countries of origin and compete in their home leagues rather than emigrating to European clubs — a shift it claimed “would erode UEFA’s dominance over other regions of the world”.

UEFA’s original filing painted a starkly different picture, describing the FFE as “a vehicle for Infantino and a small circle to acquire a permanent stake and otherwise profit from FIFA’s most valuable assets.”

The documents have been filed in Florida, where two FIFA entities — FIFA Americas and FWC2026 US — are incorporated. UEFA is seeking access to internal communications and documents relating to the origination and development of the FFE proposal from both organisations.

Despite the legal hostilities, UEFA has stepped back from an earlier threat to boycott the World Cup and other FIFA competitions. FIFA’s court filing requests that a judge either defer granting UEFA access to the documents or oppose UEFA’s application entirely, with a deadline set for the end of September.