FIFA accuses UEFA of ‘misinformation’ campaign in bid for World Cup papers

FIFA has accused UEFA of a "misinformation" campaign in its bid to access documents related to a shelved plan to sell World Cup rights. The plan, proposed by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, would have allowed private investors to acquire stakes in a company created under the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) initiative.

FIFA made the accusation in a court filing in Florida, where UEFA is seeking permission to obtain testimony and documents for use in a planned criminal complaint in Switzerland against Infantino. FIFA claims UEFA's attempt to access the documents is designed to "influence" the FIFA presidential election scheduled for next year and is acting "in bad faith" and "for purposes of harassment".

UEFA had suggested that Infantino sought to profit personally from the FFE proposal, which FIFA denies, calling the allegations "categorically without merit". The FFE plan was subject to approval by both FIFA member associations and the FIFA Council, and would have been subject to oversight by both groups within FIFA.

Brief written by urgent.news from Punch, Punch Nigeria, Yahoo Sports, Winnipeg Free Press, RTE News — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.