Uefa Prepares Criminal Complaint Against Gianni Infantino

Uefa is preparing to file a criminal complaint against Gianni Infantino over alleged “criminal mismanagement” linked to his failed Fifa Forward Enterprise project, in a move that threatens to drag football’s most powerful office into a fresh legal storm.

The European governing body has gone to the US courts to prise open the paperwork behind the plan, targeting documents that could underpin criminal claims in Switzerland against the Fifa president and other officials and advisers.

Legal war at the top of world football

In filings made in the United States, Uefa and other interested parties state they are “preparing to bring criminal claims in Switzerland against Infantino and possible other Fifa officials and advisors for criminal mismanagement under Article 158 of the Swiss Criminal Code”.

To do that, Uefa has turned to a powerful American legal tool: a “section 1782” order. It allows a party involved in or preparing for foreign legal proceedings to seek discovery from individuals or entities based in the US. In plain terms, Uefa wants the American courts to force the release of documents tied to Infantino’s enterprise scheme.

At the heart of the dispute lies a valuation that Uefa’s lawyers describe as astonishingly low. Court documents highlight what they call the “absurdly low enterprise value of only approximately $20bn” implied by Infantino’s proposal to sell a 20% stake in a bundle of Fifa tournaments for $4.2bn.

The filings argue that this price was “neither the product of an open, competitive auction, nor tested by any independent valuer”, raising the stakes over whether Fifa’s leadership properly protected the organisation’s commercial interests.

Pressure on Infantino and Fifa inner circle

The legal manoeuvres have been building. Earlier this month, Uefa’s lawyers wrote directly to Infantino and Fifa, ordering them to “take immediate steps to identify, locate, and preserve all documents and electronically stored information described in this notice that are in your or Fifa’s possession, custody, or control”.

That instruction went beyond general record-keeping. Uefa named 14 executives and required each of them to “specifically preserve all such materials in their possession, custody, or control”, signalling a broad interest in how the project was devised, assessed and advanced inside Fifa’s hierarchy.

The attempt to secure documents through US courts marks an escalation in the long-running power struggle between football’s global and continental authorities. It is not simply a political row; Uefa is now openly preparing a criminal case.

If Swiss prosecutors eventually receive a detailed complaint backed by internal correspondence, valuations and advisory notes, Infantino could face one of the most serious legal challenges of his presidency.

Fifa has been contacted for comment.