UEFA has threatened FIFA with legal action over its failed plans to sell stakes in the World Cup and other tournaments to private investors. FIFA and Infantino scrapped the proposals on Friday following significant backlash, including from UEFA, who vowed to boycott the World Cup in protest.
The letter, which was sent on Friday, read: "Uefa hereby gives formal notice that it is actively considering legal action, arbitration, and/or regulatory complaints (together, the “proceedings”) arising out of and in connection with the FFE plan proposed by Fifa and all related matters as further described below. UEFA also warned Infantino not to delete any documents relating to his scrapped plans as it may 'constitute spoliation of evidence.' The letter concluded with UEFA demanding that Infantino respond within five days acknowledging the letter, that he has taken steps to preserve the relevant materials required and whether he is aware that any have been destroyed or deleted.
A similar letter has been sent to Joshua Kushner, the brother of U.S. President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who runs the investment fund FIFA wanted to sell a minority stake in a new entity that runs its tournaments to for $4.2billion (£3.1bn).
Following FIFA’s U-turn, UEFA released a statement on Saturday stating it and “other members of the football family” had lost confidence in Infantino, accusing the FIFA President of a “shabby, back room, opaque” deal. “Having listened carefully to all the views, it has become clear that the project has created divisions of a nature that, regardless of the level of support, are no longer in the interest of the objective set out in the first place,” Infantino said in a statement.