Uefa preparing criminal action against Gianni Infantino

Uefa is preparing to bring "criminal proceedings" against the Fifa president Gianni Infantino over his World Cup sell-off plan, court filings in the United States have revealed.

Court documents submitted by Uefa's lawyers say the plan to sell a 20 per cent stake in Fifa's tournaments for $4.2billion (£3.1billion) was an "absurdly low" figure "that was neither the product of an open, competitive auction, nor tested by any independent valuer".

The 56-page filings state: "Uefa and its counsel are contemplating a Swiss criminal proceeding against Infantino and possibly other Fifa officials for criminal mismanagement under Article 158 of the Swiss Criminal Code, together with such further or alternative charges as the developed factual record may support.

"On information and belief, Infantino's actions described herein rise to the level of criminal mismanagement. But Swiss law does not require Uefa or its member associations to demonstrate a likelihood of success on the merits before the criminal proceeding is brought."

They also state that if found proven, such criminal offences can carry a prison sentence of up to three years.

Infantino had planned for private investors led by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared, to take the stake in a new company called Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE). Infantino has previously defended the proposal, saying it was intended to strengthen the position of Fifa's member associations, including those most in need. But he withdrew the scheme three days after it was revealed by The Times, by which point Uefa nations had voted for a boycott of Fifa's competitions.

The court documents claim that Infantino himself stood to profit financially from the sale. They state: "In truth, it [FFE] 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 legal filings also seek a court order for Kushner's Thrive Capital fund to disclose all documents and electronic data relating to FFE, and a court order for subpoenas for Thrive and Kushner to give evidence.

The court documents also shed light on the financial inducements allegedly offered to Fifa's 211 member associations to support the plan - $40million over four years or 75 per cent less if they rejected the scheme - and to do so in a very short timetable.

They state: "For many national football associations, a payment of this magnitude is extraordinary in relation to their ordinary operating budgets.

"The inducement was, moreover, payable from Fifa's own reserves and future revenues, so that the members were offered a share of Fifa's existing funds conditioned on their approval of the permanent sale of a share in Fifa's future funds.

"Infantino tried to force the members to consider this inducement on a compressed timetable. The response deadline set by Infantino and his cronies was September 19, 2026 - a window of approximately 53 [days] from the announcement on July 28, 2026 to consider a major reorganisation of Fifa's commercial assets hatched in secret over more than a year."

Deliberately undervaluing a company ahead of a sale is a potential criminal offence in Switzerland. Uefa's filing says $30billion (£25.7billion) would have been a "conservative" estimate of the value of FFE.

The new action follows an earlier letter from Uefa's New York-based lawyers warning that all documents and information relating to Infantino's plan be preserved.

Earlier in August, Uefa's lawyers named 14 Fifa executives, including Infantino, who should "specifically preserve all such materials in their possession, custody, or control" relating to the World Cup sell-off.

The sports lawyer Nick De Marco KC, who is not involved in the case, explained how Uefa could use article 158 of the Swiss Criminal Code to allege an offence of criminal mismanagement. He said: "Very broadly, if somebody who has been entrusted with managing another person's property or financial interests - here, potentially Fifa's - breaches their duties and causes financial loss, they can face a custodial sentence of up to three years or a financial penalty.

"And there is a more serious form of the offence where the person acts with a view to obtaining an unlawful financial gain for themselves or somebody else, where the potential prison sentence rises to five years.

"One of the matters investigators would plainly want to establish is whether there was any contemplated personal financial benefit to Infantino or others."

De Marco said Uefa's action showed that it was not just content with preventing the World Cup sell-off, but appeared determined to hold Infantino accountable for it.

Meanwhile, it was confirmed at a meeting of Uefa's executive committee and presidents of its 55 member associations in Monaco that the conditions for lifting its boycott of Fifa competitions have been met. The first was for Fifa to withdraw the proposal to sell off stakes in the major competitions, which happened at the end of July, and the second that "assurances have to be made that such attempts to disfigure the game in this way will never be made again".