UEFA launches criminal case against FIFA's Infantino over scrapped World Cup sell-off
Uefa pursuing criminal legal action against Infantino
UEFA is pursuing criminal legal proceedings against FIFA President Gianni Infantino in Switzerland, accusing him of 'criminal mismanagement' over the now-abandoned plan to sell stakes in the World Cup and other competitions to private investors. Documents seen by BBC Sport reveal UEFA's application for evidence in Florida, alleging Infantino engineered the scheme for personal gain and that the valuation was 'fraudulently off-market.' The plan, which would have created a new subsidiary called FIFA Forward Enterprise, was scrapped after widespread backlash, including threats of a World Cup boycott from UEFA and its members.
In truth, it was a vehicle for Infantino and that small circle to acquire a permanent stake in and otherwise profit from Fifa's most valuable assets to the detriment of Fifa, its members, and other parties within the football family.
- Hugsbox
At what point would it be worth it for clubs to just decouple from FIFA and start a new international federation without all the bullshit? I know as long as there's massive amounts of money involved corruption is bound to seep in, but the optimist in me wants to believe a new federation could be structured to be slightly more resistant to it.
- FabCH
I am not a lawyer, but I do live in Zurich.
AFAIK, you can’t actually bring criminal charges as a civilian. You make a complaint to the public prosecutor and they choose to press criminal charges. Some crimes are only prosecuted if somebody complains. And obviously public prosecutors have far more legal power than civilians.
I wonder how sure UEFA is that the prosecutors will prosecute.
- wjnc
For the HN curious: What was wrong with the plan to further commercialize football via creating an SPV for the World Cup?
I detest Infantino and the grotesque corruption in FIFA, like in IOC and a certain administration. But UEFA Champions League and Nations League are the model Infantino proposed?
Another note is that I see a match of my favorite club every fortnight and have gotten used to the economics of being the 1500th club financially worldwide. (You get either youths or scratched players, and any outstanding player you bring up or find, you will lose for pennies.) Money changed football, but that change was 60 years ago. No manna from heaven is going to change that. So I’ll be gentle: without graft and corruption, and with adequate distribution, more money /could/ even mean better conditions for youth worldwide (/naive dreams).
- bogdiyan
How this is HN related?