Fifa has accused Uefa of waging a “smear campaign” against the governing body’s president, Gianni Infantino.
The world governing body has filed a legal response in the Southern District of New York, directly challenging legal action brought by Uefa, which has been pursuing evidence through American courts in connection with the controversial privatisation venture.
Uefa has signalled it may pursue criminal proceedings against Infantino in Switzerland, where Fifa is headquartered, and is seeking to force him from office either through resignation or at the presidential election scheduled for March.
Fifa dismissed Uefa’s court applications as glorified press releases and issued a response.
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It wrote: “While these applications are styled as legal pleadings with captions and docket numbers, they are little more than press releases in further support of UEFA’s smear campaign against FIFA and its leadership.”
Fifa’s lawyers argue that Uefa’s application contains a “fundamental defect”, writing: “Uefa seeks discovery in aid of a foreign criminal proceeding that does not exist and that Uefa admittedly lacks the authority to initiate.”
The filing characterises Uefa’s legal manoeuvres as baseless.
The court document insists it was “only a proposal” that would have required formal endorsement from both member associations and the ruling council before proceeding.
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Fifa’s lawyers said: “Uefa’s application suffers from a fundamental defect: UEFA seeks discovery in aid of a foreign criminal proceeding that does not exist and that Uefa admittedly lacks the authority to initiate.”
Fif says greater funding for smaller member associations would encourage players from those nations to represent their home countries and compete in domestic leagues rather than moving abroad.
The filing said: “Uefa economic motivation was to prevent smaller countries from having the financial strength to compete with the European elite.
“If soccer is strengthened in the developing world, global competition increases, which ultimately reduces Uefa’s market power and provides more competition for its flagship tournaments.”
The world’s governing body claims Uefa was working in its own self-interest to protect its competitions.
The document continued: “Rather than participate in that democratic process, Uefa issued a press release – the beginning of a weeks-long smear campaign against FIFA and its leadership.
“Uefa’s economic motivation was to prevent smaller countries from having the financial strength to compete with the European elite.
“If soccer is strengthened in the developing world, global competition increases, which ultimately reduces UEFA’s market power and provides more competition for its flagship tournaments.
“By raising funds to allow some of FIFA’s smaller member associations to better develop soccer, FFE (FIFA’s Forward Enterprise) would lead to more players from those nations choosing to represent their countries of origin and playing in their home leagues rather than playing abroad.”
The filing does not directly note criticism of Infantino by UEFA or mention other governing bodies.
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