Fifa attorneys oppose Uefa's discovery request in US federal court, call it a smear campaign

Attorneys representing Fifa have hit back at Uefa’s request for discovery in a US federal filing earlier this week. The lawyers called Uefa’s legal efforts “little more than press releases in further support of [a] smear campaign against Fifa and its leadership” and requested the judge assigned to the case dismiss the request.

The filing requests that Fifa US, a subsidiary business unit of Fifa, be permitted to officially opposite the request for discovery by 30 September.

Uefa filed four separate requests for subpoena in different US courts at the end of August, arguing in each that discovery was needed as it contemplated initiating criminal proceedings against Fifa president Gianni Infantino over the proposed Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan that caused uproar across football. The requests sought information, including documents and communications from Fifa as well as Joshua Kushner and the investment firm he oversees, Thrive Capital, which had been set to be the lead investor in Infantino’s plan. Uefa’s filing also requests information from other related parties, including JP Morgan.

Fifa submitted a request to intervene in one of those four filings, which came in the state of Florida. A judge granted the request late last week.

Filing on behalf of Fifa, attorney H Christopher Boehning argues that the request for discovery should be delayed or denied in part because Uefa does not have any active legal proceedings against Fifa in Switzerland. The filing also argues that discovery would in effect “use the legal process and public US filings to expose information that [Fifa] is obligated to keep confidential under [its] governing rules.”

The document also retells the history of the FFE plan, and suggests that Uefa’s threatened boycott of Fifa competitions after the FFE proposal was economically motivated.

“If soccer is strengthened in the developing world, global competition increases, which ultimately reduces Uefa’s market power and provides more competition for its flagship tournaments,” the document reads. “By raising funds to allow some of Fifa’s smaller member associations to better develop soccer, FFE would lead to more players from those nations choosing to represent their countries of origin and playing in their home leagues rather than playing abroad.”

The filing quotes Cameroon federation president Samuel Eto’o to support this assertion, but refers to him only as “one of the greatest African players in history.”

The filing also asserts that Uefa does not have the authority to initiate any criminal proceeding in Switzerland, as it is contractually bound by Fifa statutes to resolve any disputes with Fifa itself via arbitration.