UEFA isn't done. Days after Gianni Infantino quietly buried his plan to sell a $4.2 billion stake in future World Cup profits to private investors, European football's governing body has instructed New York law firm Dechert to formally warn FIFA that legal action, arbitration, and regulatory complaints are all on the table.
The letter, dated Friday July 30 and seen by the Associated Press on Monday August 3, names 18 FIFA executives — including Infantino, CFO Thomas Peyer, and Arsène Wenger — and orders them not to destroy, delete, alter, or conceal any relevant documents or communications. That's litigation language. UEFA isn't making a political point anymore. It's building a case.
How fast it unravelled
Less than two weeks ago, Infantino left New York after the World Cup final looking like a lock for a fourth term in March. FIFA had reportedly secured letters of support from around 200 of its 211 member federations. Now those letters are being pulled. Wales was first to announce publicly. The rest of Europe will follow.
The proposal itself — the FIFA Forward Enterprise, valued at $20 billion — would have handed commercial and tournament operations to a private spin-off through at least 2038. Each member federation was offered a one-off payment of $20 million, with a mid-September deadline to accept or miss out. Joshua Kushner's New York investment firm was among those lined up.
FIFA's own chief operating officer Kevin Lamour called it the project of "just one man" in a statement Friday, saying staff felt deceived by their own boss. That kind of internal rupture doesn't heal quickly.
The presidency itself is now the question
On Saturday August 1, UEFA stopped short of nothing — declaring Infantino had "lost the confidence of world football" and that "no option should be off the table." The Swedish federation confirmed Monday that UEFA is actively searching for a rival presidential candidate ahead of the March election in Morocco.
Infantino's remaining support base is centred in Africa. CONMEBOL is staying close, but that's tied directly to his promise of expanding the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams — more games for Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, and a stronger hand for CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez. Transactional support, not loyalty.
- Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF have both issued strong statements opposing the plan
- UEFA's 55 member federations voted to boycott FIFA events while the proposal was active
- The candidate registration deadline for the FIFA election is November 18
- Infantino's current deal pays around $6 million annually — the spin-off would have created a post-2031 commissioner role paying considerably more
Infantino reportedly sought support from the Trump administration Monday morning, possibly through a call with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The State Department shot it down publicly within hours: "There are no plans for @SecRubio to speak with Infantino and there is no call this morning."
For anyone tracking FIFA governance — or indeed the odds on who leads the organisation come April — the ground has shifted completely in seven days. A man who looked certain to run unopposed is now the subject of a legal preservation notice from half the football world.
