FIFA Offers Council Members In-Person Access to World Cup Sell-Off Documents in Zurich on UEFA's Deadline Day

Since UEFA's Oct. 19 letter demanded written answers and supporting documents on Gianni Infantino's abandoned World Cup stake sale by Nov. 2, FIFA has now responded on deadline day. Not with the full answers UEFA asked for.

Hours before the deadline passed on Monday, FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafström wrote to all Council members. He invited them to view "key documents" tied to the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal. The letter set out conditions: in person only, at FIFA headquarters in Zurich, "under strict review protocols to preserve confidentiality."

Council members have two weeks to register interest. That window closes around Nov. 16, two days before the Nov. 18 cutoff for candidates to declare against Infantino in next year's presidential election.

What FIFA is offering

The list of documents has not been published. Press Association reporting indicates the material relates solely to FFE. The Oct. 19 letter also covered the Folarin Balogun disciplinary case and other matters, and FIFA says a response on those is coming.

Grafström told members FIFA is "currently working on a response to the letter, which we will share with all FIFA Council members in due course."

The letter also said FIFA recognises "the strong desire of some FIFA Council members" to see the FFE paperwork, "notwithstanding that the FFE proposal is now irretrievably ended." Grafström added that "there would be and has been no penalty to FIFA for withdrawing from the proposal," and that the Council could always have rejected the sale of 20% of the commercial rights.

The recipients include all six regional confederation presidents and the FIFA vice-presidents, among them UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin.

Why FIFA says it can't do more

FIFA is understood to regard UEFA's two-week deadline as unfeasible. The Oct. 19 letter covers 42 areas of concern and dozens of individual questions. FIFA points to its workload: the inaugural Under-15 World Cup in Azerbaijan, with 189 nations and 3,000 players, and an extraordinary Congress on Nov. 23 to pick hosts for the 2031 and 2035 Women's World Cups.

FIFA is also citing UEFA's own legal action. UEFA has asked U.S. federal courts to authorise subpoenas for documents and sworn testimony about FFE, and has said it could file a criminal complaint in Switzerland. Sky News reported that UEFA has floated a criminal mismanagement case alleging Infantino undersold the tournaments for personal financial benefit. UEFA has made that allegation only as a possibility, and no complaint has been filed. FIFA's lawyers have told U.S. courts that UEFA is harassing Infantino, according to Al Jazeera's reporting.

Sky News also reported that the viewing conditions appear designed to limit how far the contents of the FFE venture can be disclosed. FIFA's stated reason is confidentiality obligations.

UEFA's position

UEFA's letter, signed by general secretary Theodore Theodoridis for the European Council members, argued that Infantino's apology did not address the core issue. "The withdrawal of FFE, the acknowledgement of mistakes and the announcement of 'potential governance reforms' do not answer how the relevant decisions were taken or why the Fifa Council was not involved at the appropriate stage," it said.

The letter also said: "These questions require answers now. They cannot be deferred until the next meeting of the Fifa Council." That meeting is in Doha on Dec. 16.

UEFA asked that any refusal to disclose be justified item by item. A document-viewing room in Zurich is not the written, itemised response it requested.

The plan itself

FFE was meant to run the commercial interests of the World Cup and other FIFA competitions, with private investors holding a minority stake. UEFA's questions cite a $20 billion valuation and the decision to grant exclusivity to Thrive Capital, founded by Joshua Kushner, the brother of Donald Trump's son-in-law, to lead the investor group.

The plan was dropped in August after three continental confederations rejected it and UEFA threatened a boycott of FIFA competitions. It had surfaced in July. The Council had not met since FFE emerged until last month's Zurich meeting, where Infantino declined to give substantive answers and asked for written questions.

UEFA's list goes well beyond FFE. It covers Infantino's personal remuneration, payments to singer Marc Anthony, the FIFA Peace Prize given to Trump, a call between the two before Balogun's red-card ban was lifted at the World Cup, and the independence of FIFA's judicial, electoral and ethics committees. UEFA has also repeated calls for a "genuinely independent" governance review.

FIFA has not publicly answered those allegations of conflicts of interest.

What happens next

UEFA has not said what it will do after the deadline. It is trying to find a candidate to run against Infantino before nominations close on Nov. 18. As things stand, he is on course to be re-elected unopposed.

The open question is how many Council members take up the Zurich offer, and whether the documents show how and when the sell-off proposal was put together. FIFA has not said when the wider written response will arrive.