FIFA has accused UEFA of launching a "dirty campaign" against it and Gianni Infantino, following UEFA's threat to file "criminal charges" against Infantino, according to reports from The Athletic.

On August 28, UEFA reportedly filed legal documents accusing Infantino of "fraudulently inflating the price beyond fair market value for his own benefit" when proposing the sale of a 20% stake in FIFA's commercial operations and events division for $4.2 billion.

This was part of the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal, now abandoned, which, if approved by FIFA's 211 member associations, would have allowed Thrive Capital (an American investment fund operated by Joshua Kushner, brother-in-law of Donald Trump) to acquire a stake in the FIFA World Cup and other FIFA events.

UEFA demanded disclosure of relevant documents to potentially file "criminal charges" against Infantino in Switzerland regarding the FFE plan. UEFA's lawyers argued that the $4.2 billion valuation was "significantly undervalued" and was not the result of "a competitive open auction." However, FIFA responded to UEFA's legal filing with a motion to intervene, requesting either a delay in granting access to the documents or outright dismissal of the application.

FIFA's filing in New York on Tuesday stated: "Although this application appears in the form of legal proceedings, complete with a caption and case number, it is nothing more than a press release, further advancing UEFA's dirty campaign against FIFA and its leadership."

"This is evident from UEFA's decision to notify the media before filing this application, the numerous paragraphs in the application that are based solely on news reports, and the fundamental flaw in UEFA's application: UEFA seeks evidence to support a non-existent foreign criminal proceeding, which UEFA itself acknowledges lacks the authority to initiate."

FIFA also accused UEFA of deliberately obstructing the FIFA World Cup stake sale plan (FFE), and claimed that UEFA threatened to ensure all European national teams would boycott FIFA competitions in the future if the plan were not abandoned, thereby preventing the proposal from being implemented.

The complaint states: "Rather than engaging in democratic process, UEFA issued a press release—marking the beginning of a weeks-long dirty campaign against FIFA and its leadership, in which UEFA accused FIFA of 'ruling by intimidation' and characterized UEFA's investigative report as 'coercion.'"

FIFA claims that UEFA's "economic motivation" for preventing the FFE is "to prevent smaller nations from having the financial means to compete with European elite," and the document states: "If football is strengthened in developing nations, global competition will increase, which will ultimately weaken UEFA's market power and bring greater competition to its major events."

"By raising funds to better develop football for some of FIFA's smaller member associations, FFE would encourage more players from these nations to choose to represent their home countries and play in their own leagues, rather than playing abroad, which would all weaken UEFA's dominance in other parts of the world."

In its filing, FIFA also disputed UEFA's claim that it can initiate criminal proceedings against Infantino, adding: "Instead, UEFA has attempted to reframe an arbitration dispute with FIFA as the basis for a 'proposed Swiss criminal proceeding,' while acknowledging that it lacks the authority to initiate such proceedings."

Infantino is not the only party from whom UEFA has sought information. Similar legal actions have been filed in New York City against Thrive Capital, Kushner, and JPMorgan Chase, and in Colorado against Bain Capital and its CEO Greg Becker. JPMorgan Chase and Bain Capital were originally set to partner with FIFA on the FFE project.

FIFA announced the plan on July 28, specifically acknowledging both companies. In response to UEFA's document requests, Kushner, in his first public comment since the FFE incident, issued a statement on Monday saying that Thrive "failed to understand the dynamics of global football politics" and added that had they known "what was going to happen," they "would not have been involved" in the plan.

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