LAGOS, Nigeria — The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) initiated criminal legal proceedings in Switzerland against the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and its president, Gianni Infantino, on August 27, 2026, over a proposal to sell tournament commercial rights to private investors.
Legal documents reviewed by BBC Sport on August 27, 2026, showed UEFA requested access to evidence and records for use in Swiss court proceedings. Golden Info reports that UEFA submitted the application following a public announcement made by Infantino on July 28, 2026, regarding commercial rights to international competitions.
The legal filing follows Infantino’s proposal to transfer commercial rights for the men’s World Cup, women’s World Cup, and Club World Cup into a new subsidiary, FIFA Forward Enterprise. The application alleges the proposal was announced without consultation with the FIFA Council, UEFA, other confederations, or FIFA’s 211 member associations.
The application stated: “On July 28, 2026, without consulting the FIFA Council, UEFA, or any of the other confederations, or any of the 211 FIFA member associations, Infantino, purportedly acting on behalf of FIFA, publicly announced a plan to place the commercial rights to the men’s and women’s World Cups and the Club World Cup into a new subsidiary: FIFA Forward Enterprise.”
The filing further alleged that the initiative had been prepared secretly prior to its public disclosure. The application said: “That announcement by Infantino was the public unveiling of a plan that he and a small circle of co-conspirators had conceived and reportedly been developing in secret for more than a year,”.
The proposed investment structure has since been scrapped. FIFA is headquartered in Switzerland, where UEFA’s application for legal evidence remains filed.