UEFA takes legal action against FIFA, Joshua Kushner over scrapped plans to sell stakes in World Cup
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- UEFA filed discovery applications Thursday in three U.S. court districts (Southern District of New York, Southern District of Florida, District of Colorado) targeting FIFA president Gianni Infantino, Thrive Capital, and ex-Liberty Media CEO Greg Maffei over the since-scrapped FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan.
- UEFA is seeking court authority to subpoena Thrive Capital and its founder Joshua Kushner—identified as the lead investor in FFE and brother of Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner—to gather evidence for a potential Swiss criminal proceeding against Infantino under Article 158 of the Swiss Criminal Code ("criminal mismanagement").
- The FFE proposal would have bundled commercial rights to the men's and women's World Cups and Club World Cups, selling roughly 20% to private investors for $4.2 billion; UEFA calls the implied ~$20 billion enterprise value "absurdly low" and argues a valuation "exceeding $30 billion is readily supportable."
- Concacaf and the AFC joined UEFA in criticizing Infantino for hatching the plan in isolation and bypassing world soccer's governance procedures, with FIFA imposing a Sept. 19 deadline for its 211 member associations to approve the deal—before the plan was abandoned within days.
- Infantino had collected more than 200 letters of support from the 211 MAs by the week of the July 19 World Cup final, but several associations have since revoked backing despite his damage-control efforts; UEFA, Concacaf, and AFC voting members have mostly maintained their opposition.
- Candidates have until Nov. 18 to declare interest in the March 18 FIFA presidential election in Rabat, Morocco, with Concacaf president Victor Montagliani reportedly mulling a challenge against Infantino, who in April announced a bid for a fourth and final term.
Why it matters: UEFA's escalation from public criticism to U.S. court filings—and a threatened Swiss criminal complaint under Article 158—converts a governance dispute into a legal one with direct stakes for Infantino's March 18 re-election bid in Rabat. With UEFA, Concacaf, and AFC voting members already withholding support and the Nov. 18 candidacy deadline approaching, the FFE debacle has moved from a scrapped proposal to a live threat to Infantino's hold on the presidency.
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