Arya News - UEFA says the claims relate to alleged criminal mismanagement.
UEFA is taking legal action in New York against FIFA, Gianni Infantino and Thrive Capital, the lead investor in the failed $20 billion World Cup investment plan, according to The Times and Front Office Sports .
This is not a lawsuit. UEFA, instead, is wanting to go through the discovery process to get information from the three parties in order to take that to Swiss authorities — FIFA"s headquarters are in Switzerland — as part of a criminal complaint. The end goal is to have charges brought against Infantino and possibly other FIFA officials.
Infantino is accused of "fraudulently" offering a stake in the FIFA Forward Enterprise without going through the proper FIFA channels.
Thrive and founder Joshua Kushner were set to pay FIFA $4.2 billion for a 20% stake in a new company that would run the organization"s commercial events, which includes the men"s and women"s World Cup.
"Under the terms Infantino announced, those investors stood to acquire a permanent financial interest in FIFA"s commercial arm for $4.2bn, implying an absurdly low enterprise value of only approximately $20bn, a figure that was neither the product of an open, competitive auction, nor tested by any independent valuer," UEFA"s complaint reads.
That $4.2 billion figure could be a "fraudulently off-market price promoted by Infantino for his own benefit," it adds.
"In truth, it was a vehicle for Infantino and that small circle to acquire a permanent stake in and otherwise profit from FIFA"s most valuable assets to the detriment of FIFA, its members, and other parties within the football family," the complaint continued.
"Infantino pushed the plan through internal FIFA approval only days earlier at a hastily convened meeting where a limited number of FIFA"s management officials and employees — some of whom had never heard of the plan — were given mere hours to sign off on an unprecedented multi-billion dollar scheme."
Infantino"s received criticism from all corners of the soccer world after The Times reported the details of the plan. Various confederations, including UEFA and Concacaf, issued scathing statements against the FIFA president with a number calling for " meaningful change " atop the governing body"s hierarchy.
UEFA, which released a statement saying it had lost confidence in Infantino"s ability to lead, threatened to boycott all FIFA-run competitions unless FIFA issued assurances that the sell off plan would not be revisited.
Days later, the plan was withdrawn .
UEFA set to call off its boycott
UEFA will reportedly withdraw its plan to boycott FIFA-run competitions after the European soccer governing body was told Infantino"s plan will not be revived.
The 55 member nations of UEFA are set to meet in Monaco on Thursday ahead of the 2026-27 Champions League draw. Calling off the planned boycott will ensure no issues for the upcoming FIFA Under-20 Women"s World Cup, which will begin Sept. 5 in Poland.
FIFA released a statement saying it "strongly believes that football has the power to unite, even in challenging circumstances, and looks forward to welcoming all teams and players to Poland."
As UEFA gets set to call off its boycott, the Italian and Romanian football federations joined the growing list of countries to withdraw support of Infantino.
The FIGC"s statement on Wednesday said that it would no longer support Infantino"s reelection in March due to "the recent initiatives promoted by the FIFA president concerning governance and the development of international competitions."
"FIFA needs today a new leader who can produce consensus and unity, inspire trust and who has the ability to bring us all together," President Răzvan Burleanu of Romania"s FRF said.