UEFA prepares criminal case against FIFA president over share sale plan

UEFA is preparing to launch criminal proceedings in Switzerland against FIFA President Gianni Infantino over an alleged plan to sell shares in the World Cup to private investors.

The development was revealed in legal documents, with UEFA seeking documents from FIFA and financial institutions in the United States related to the proposed transaction, Caliber.Az reports, citing SkyNews.

The planned proceedings would be filed in Switzerland, where FIFA is headquartered.

The move marks a significant escalation in UEFA’s efforts to challenge Infantino over the plan, going beyond its attempts to remove him from office over the proposed privatisation of part of the World Cup.

A legal document seen by Sky News said: "UEFA and other interested parties are preparing to bring criminal claims in Switzerland against Infantino and possibly other FIFA officials and advisors for criminal mismanagement under Article 158 of the Swiss Criminal Code and such further or alternative charges as the developed factual record may support, arising out of the secretive structuring, valuation, financing, and marketing of a transaction that inflicted direct and concrete injury on FIFA's reputation, governance authority, and commercial relationships to the detriment of FIFA as well as its 211 members, including UEFA's 55 member associations."

The application was filed by UEFA in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York against JPMorgan Chase, as well as proposed lead investor Thrive Capital and its CEO Joshua Kushner, the brother of Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov