UEFA Turns FIFA’s Abandoned $4.2 Billion Plan Into a Legal Fight

UEFA Turns FIFA’s Abandoned $4.2 Billion Plan Into a Legal Fight
UEFA is escalating its opposition to Gianni Infantino from a political revolt inside soccer’s governing system into a potential criminal case, accusing the FIFA president of trying to privatize valuable World Cup revenues on terms that favored a small circle of investors.

In a U.S. court filing, UEFA said it was seeking testimony and documents from FIFA entities in Florida, as well as potential evidence from Thrive Capital Management in New York, to support a planned complaint in Switzerland. The complaint could target Infantino and possibly other FIFA officials for alleged criminal mismanagement under Swiss law.

UEFA’s interpretation is stark: the proposed FIFA Forward Enterprise was not a modernization of the organization’s commercial structure, but an attempt to transfer permanent economic interests in the men’s and women’s World Cups and the Club World Cup to private investors. The plan envisioned Thrive Capital and other backers paying $4.2 billion for a 20% stake.

UEFA lawyers described that valuation as a “fraudulently off-market price” and argued that the deal was “a vehicle for Infantino and that small circle to acquire a permanent stake” in FIFA’s most valuable assets. Their criticism centers not only on the price, but also on the alleged absence of an open auction or independent valuation.

The organization’s earlier resistance was political: UEFA threatened a boycott of FIFA competitions, including the next men’s World Cup, before Infantino abandoned the proposal on Aug. 1 amid opposition from several continental soccer bodies. The latest move raises the stakes by shifting the dispute into courts in Switzerland and the United States.

FIFA and Thrive Capital have not responded to requests for comment, leaving UEFA’s allegations publicly unanswered rather than tested by a competing account. The legal filings therefore represent one side’s interpretation—but one capable of forcing scrutiny over who controls soccer’s most lucrative assets and how that control is sold.