FIFA’s answer to UEFA’s legal action regarding Gianni Infantino’s failed plan to sell off a part of the World Cup to investors has been strong.
FIFA says that its rivals from the European Football Confederation are making a ‘smear campaign’ against its current administration, since they requested documents related to the controversial FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan.
Last week, UEFA took action by filing legal documents in the USA for a warrant to acquire documents from FIFA, stating that it also planned to initiate a criminal procedure in Switzerland accusing Infantino of ‘criminal mismanagement’ and undervaluing the World Cup.
FIFA’s counterargument is that UEFA wants the documents due to a procedure overseas which is still uncertain, and it claims that FFE was a simple plan which would only be carried out with the assistance of member nations and the FIFA Council.
Fifa also claims that Uefa’s rejection of this plan has been derived by its worry about increased rivalism among European clubs as well as championship tournaments because richer footballing nations will benefit more.
The $4.2billion deal was agreed with Venture capitalist Joshua Kushner and its company Thrive but has been dropped amid major condemnation after it was made public.
UEFA refused to comment on FIFA’s answer.
