Uefa has dramatically escalated its campaign to remove Gianni Infantino by initiating the first formal legal steps toward a criminal complaint against the Fifa president.
Lawyers acting for European football’s governing body have lodged a discovery request with a US district court in Florida, where Fifa’s main American offices are based, seeking documents that could support proceedings in Switzerland.
Both Fifa and Uefa are headquartered in Switzerland, making Swiss criminal law the most likely jurisdiction for any formal complaint to be filed against Infantino.
The filing, seen by City AM, states that “Uefa and its counsel are contemplating a Swiss criminal proceeding against Infantino and possibly other Fifa officials for criminal mismanagement under Article 158 of the Swiss Criminal Code, together with such further or alternative charges as the developed factual record may support.”
Swiss counsel has reportedly confirmed that such proceedings are within reasonable contemplation and that Uefa has legal standing to file as a complainant under Swiss law.
The filing further notes that Swiss law stipulates such offences, if proven, carry a prison term of up to three years, or five years “if the offender acts with the intention of securing an unlawful gain for themselves or another.”
The discovery request specifically targets communications involving Infantino, Joshua Kushner, and Greg Maffei, the former Liberty Media boss who served as an advisor on the Fifa Forward Enterprise deal.
Infantino has resisted calls to resign since details emerged of his plan to create Fifa Forward Enterprise, a new company that would hold the commercial rights to the World Cup and other tournaments and sell minority stakes totalling more than $4bn to outside investors.
Kushner, the brother of US President Trump’s son-in-law, was among the investors identified in connection with the proposed stake sales through his Thrive Eternal vehicle.
Uefa wants to establish what process was undertaken in planning FFE, how it was valued, and who stood to benefit from the arrangement beyond Fifa’s 211 member associations.
The filing argues that communications “concerning anticipated returns to the investor group, personal compensation or benefits to Fifa officials, and the political or reputational positioning of the transaction are directly probative of whether the transaction was structured for the benefit of Fifa and its 211 member associations or for the benefit of a defined group of outside investors.”
Uefa has been Infantino’s most vocal institutional critic since the FFE plan became public, voting to boycott future Fifa events including World Cups until the scheme was withdrawn.
Assurances were demanded that the FFE plan would not be resurrected before Uefa considered returning to normal engagement with global football’s governing body.
The escalation marks a significant shift from institutional protest to direct legal action, raising the prospect of criminal proceedings against the sitting head of world football’s governing body.