FIFA Condemns UEFA’s ‘Smear Campaign’ in Dramatic Escalation of World Cup War

The war between FIFA and UEFA is not settling down anytime soon, with world soccer’s governing body reportedly accusing the latter of leading a “smear campaign” following the now-scrapped FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal.

The two powers have been at odds ever since the media leaked FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s plot to sell shares of future World Cup commercial rights to private investors. Like most of the soccer world, UEFA vehemently opposed the plan, threatening to boycott all future FIFA competitions and calling for a change in leadership at FIFA.

European soccer’s governing body ultimately walked back their boycott stance, but is still contemplating potential criminal proceedings against Infantino in Switzerland. UEFA previously filed a legal document in the U.S. requesting the disclosure of documents regarding the failed FFE plan—and FIFA is now further escalating the matter.

FIFA Ruthlessly Takes Aim at UEFA

Gianni Infantino saw the soccer world turn on him following the 2026 World Cup. | Win McNamee/Getty Images

The Athletic report FIFA has filed a motion to intervene, hoping to roadblock UEFA’s access to documents. In the process, world soccer’s governing body unleashed a list of grievances against the 55 member associations of UEFA.

“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 filing states, per The Athletic.

“That is clear from UEFA’s decision to alert the media before filing these applications, from the countless paragraphs of the application supported only by references to press reports (many of which quote UEFA), and from the fact that 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.

“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, though, were not the only organization to publicly call out Infantino’s plans. Concacaf and AFC, as well as FIFPRO, the global players’ union, all made statements against the FFE, questioning Infantino’s ethics and future as FIFA’s president as well.

The overwhelming discontent is what led Infantino to quickly abandon his World Cup plan, which the filing reiterates was “only a proposal.”

FIFA Believes UEFA Is Ruled by ‘Economic Motivation’

UEFA flag — UEFA remains at war with FIFA. | Christof Koepsel/Bongarts/Getty Images

FIFA went on to accuse UEFA of having “economic motivation” to stop the FFE plan to make sure smaller countries do not have “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 filing says.

“By raising funds to allow some of FIFA’s smaller member associations to better develop soccer, FFE 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.

“All of this would erode UEFA’s dominance over other regions of the world.”

Despite FIFA’s accusations, UEFA is clearly not backing down from pursuing potential criminal proceedings. It also requested disclosure of evidence from Thrive Eternal, a U.S. investment fund run by Joshua Kushner, the brother of U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law. The fund was in line to purchase a stake in future FIFA competitions through the FFE plan.

Kushner was named as well, as were JPMorgan and Bann Ventures, two other giants linked to the FFE proposal.

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