A US federal judge has dismissed an application by FIFA to bar UEFA from collecting evidence in Gianni Infantino’s proposal to sell parts of the organisation’s commercial competitions to private investors.
The foreign soccer governing body, FIFA, is losing another case in an attempt to obtain documents of its rivals from a US-based investment fund, Fin24 reported. US district court judge Jeannette Vargas in the Southern District of New York on Thursday ruled that two FIFA subsidiaries had no interest in the case.
UEFA initiated the probe in August as part of its investigation into Infantino’s proposed FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), which was met with widespread blowback following its unveiling in July.
Under the plan, private investors could buy minority interests in FIFA’s commercial businesses, such as the World Cup. But pushback from some confederations and threats of a boycott by some countries forced Infantino to shelve the idea in August.
UEFA has been relentless in its pursuit of an explanation and warned it will lodge a criminal complaint against Infantino in Switzerland if allegations of financial misconduct come to light.
FIFA’s lawyers had underlined before Thursday’s decision that the verdict “does not deal with the substance of the application by UEFA and that there is no order to produce documents”.
Infantino, who has already announced he will contest another term, has until November 18 to receive rivals.
