UEFA is preparing criminal legal proceedings in Switzerland against FIFA president Gianni Infantino over his abandoned plan to sell stakes in the World Cup and other FIFA competitions through a vehicle called FIFA Forward Enterprise. UEFA has filed an application in a Florida court seeking access to documents and evidence held by FIFA Americas and FWC2026 to use in forthcoming Swiss proceedings and says it may also pursue criminal action against other FIFA officials. In its filing UEFA accuses Infantino of "criminal mismanagement" and says FIFA Forward Enterprise was "a vehicle for Infantino and that small circle to acquire a permanent stake in and otherwise profit from FIFA's most valuable assets." UEFA alleges the proposed deal would have sold a permanent financial interest for $4.2bn, implying an enterprise value of about $20bn that UEFA says was neither independently valued nor the product of an open competitive process. Key UEFA figures met in Monaco before the Champions League draw and unanimously mandated the UEFA president and administration to pursue every available institutional, political, and legal avenue to restore limits on presidential authority and pursue reform. UEFA says the secretive structuring, valuation, financing, and marketing of the plan inflicted concrete injury on FIFA's reputation, governance, and commercial relationships to the detriment of FIFA and its 211 members, including UEFA's 55 associations.
