UEFA isn't letting FIFA's scrapped World Cup investment deal quietly disappear. As the Athletic reports, European football's governing body has sent formal letters to FIFA president Gianni Infantino and investor Joshua Kushner warning that it's weighing legal action, arbitration, or regulatory complaints over the abandoned plan to sell a minority stake in a new tournament entity for $4.2 billion. The letters demand that both FIFA and Kushner's fund, Thrive Eternal, preserve a wide range of documents and emails tied to the proposed deal, including financial models, board papers, investor pitches, and communications with banks such as JPMorgan.
The tenure of Infantino is now in what the Guardian terms "severe peril;" the president had previously been widely backed for a fourth term in March, but now faces a mass withdrawal of letters of support from various international football associations in an effort to force his resignation. He's also facing a revolt from members of FIFA's governing council, reports the Guardian separately, which is debating calling an "extraordinary general meeting." That board had already been upset with Infantino over his decision to reverse the red card of US player Folarin Balogun after pressure from President Trump.
UEFA has also told FIFA to ensure 18 senior figures, including Arsène Wenger and Jill Ellis, retain any relevant material, stressing that destroying or altering records could be treated as evidence tampering. The move follows FIFA's decision Friday to pull the plug on the plan for "FIFA Forward Enterprises" after fierce opposition: UEFA's 55 member associations threatened to boycott FIFA competitions, and both Concacaf and the Asian Football Confederation rejected the scheme. UEFA has since said it and other stakeholders have lost confidence in Infantino, denouncing what it called a "shabby, back room, opaque" process.
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