The problems are not over for the president of FIFA, the Swiss Gianni Infantino, despite the withdrawal of his controversial proposal to sell shares in the World Cup. Now, the powerful UEFA, the first to question the FIFA Forward Enterprise initiative, has warned him that he must preserve evidence of the failed plan, because it could take legal action against him. According to the newspaper 'The New York Post', Infantino has tried without success to get the support of the US president, Donald Trump.

First modification: 08/03/2026 - 20:25 Last modification: 08/03/2026 - 21:14

From faltering his continuity at the helm of FIFA to facing legal action.

The prospect of being ousted from FIFA's leadership seems the least of problems for President Gianni Infantino, who came under public scrutiny for his failed project to open ownership of the World Cup to private investors.

Three days after officially withdrawing his FIFA Forward Enterprise initiative (a commercial subsidiary that would open the entity's star tournament to the participation of external shareholders), Infantino has now received a new warning from UEFA, the powerful entity in charge of European football, the main detractor of his project.

"UEFA puts you on formal notice that any destruction, elimination, alteration, concealment or loss of relevant materials after receiving this notice — or after any previous date on which you were, or reasonably should have been, aware that proceedings were anticipated — may constitute theft of evidence," reads a letter that UEFA addressed to Infantino, and to which the AP and EFE agencies had access.

The communication is nothing more than the declaration of the European confederation that it reserves legal action against the until recently strong man of FIFA, for the failed plan.

Under this mandate, Infantino must preserve documents and any other evidence about the FFE, either physically or electronically, in the event that UEFA initiates “legal actions, arbitration and/or regulatory claims.”

The letter, sent from the New York-based law firm Dechert, and dated July 31 (the day Infantino withdrew his project) is also addressed to 17 other senior officials of the International Federation of Association Football.

According to the media 'Politico', the same communication was sent to Thrive Capital, the venture capital firm owned by Joshua Kushner (brother of Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared), which Infantino counted on as an anchor investor of the FFE, or in other words, as the entity in charge of leveraging the initial valuation of 20,000 million dollars of FIFA's commercial subsidiary.

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UEFA's lawyer, Andrew J. Levander, assured that the legal proceedings are "reasonably anticipated", given the suspicions of football actors that the plan was "fundamentally incompatible with the proper governance of football."

FIFA is a private law entity, as it is a supranational body (not subject to the regulation of any State), but it is registered in Switzerland as a non-profit association. That nature clashes with the idea of ​​giving a minority stake in its events to private investors.

In addition, two senior officials of the entity (Infantino's assistant Carlos Cordeiro and director of operations Kevin Lamour) questioned the initiative in public communications, blaming Infantino directly for it and ensuring that it was a "one-man project."

Read also: Checkmate for Infantino's project? Trump distances himself and soccer's rejection of the idea increases

Hotline disconnected

According to the 'New York Post', Thrive Capital had decided to withdraw its support for Infantino's initiative, when Joshua Kushner considered the bitter opposition from UEFA, CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) counterproductive for his company's image.

Kushner wouldn't be the only member of Trump's entourage to pull the rug from under Infantino's feet. Again according to the 'New York Post', the Swiss leader has lost contact with the American president, with whom he was seen very frequently before and during the 2026 World Cup.

The newspaper claims, citing sources familiar with the situation, that Infantino tried without success to communicate with Trump, seeking support to continue leading FIFA, amid the gale of internal rejections.

Trump received the FIFA Peace Prize from Infantino in December, during the 2026 World Cup draw, and three days after the final he stated that he would nominate him for the UN secretary general.

However, on July 31 he denied that he had spoken with the Swiss leader about plans to sell a minority ownership stake in the World Cup.

The media report added that Infantino had a telephone conversation scheduled for August 3 with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, but Undersecretary for Global Public Affairs, Dylan Johnson, stated on X that “there is no call this morning” and invited the media to “check their sources or just call us.”

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This Monday, the newspaper 'L'Equipe' cited sources close to Emmanuel Macron who assured that the French president had made several calls to try to stop Infantino's project, motivated by the interest of "preserving the unity of world football and avoiding any lasting fracture between continents and confederations."

According to 'L'Equipe', Macron contacted the president of UEFA, Aleksander Ceferin, to express his support, with that of the African Confederation (AFCON), Patrice Montsepe, and with Infantino himself.

Read also Why do UEFA and CONCACAF attack FIFA?: anatomy of Infantino's plan to sell World Cup shares

A future outside of FIFA?

The pressure on Gianni Infantino is not only electoral, with the FIFA Congress that will decide on the mandate of the next four years scheduled for March 2027.

And his departure could occur before reaching that date. Considered the lone runner in the race for the presidency, Infantino now not only has probable rivals for the process, but there are even those who demand his head in advance.

Javier Tebas, president of the Spanish Football League, assured on August 2 that Infantino should resign, in a publication on social networks in which he attacked his centrist "governance model" and advocated for a "new leadership" that "recovers institutional credibility and builds future decisions by agreeing on them with the actors involved", without impositions.

So far, only CONMEBOL and AFCON seem willing to continue supporting Infantino ahead of the March elections, while the Welsh federation became the first to publicly withdraw support for the president.

"Recent failures in governance, leadership, values, team management and communication have led us to a position in which Mr. Infantino has lost the confidence of the Welsh association to continue in this position in football. Failure to put the interests of football first is a mistake that we cannot accept," the Welsh entity said in a statement.

UEFA pointed the way on August 1, when it indicated that “no option should be ruled out,” referring to Infantino's continuity in the current management. "The current leadership of FIFA has not only lost the trust of UEFA, but also that of many other members of the football family," the entity added.

The deadline to register candidates for the presidency expires on November 18. During the World Cup, Infantino assured that he had received letters of support from 200 of the 211 affiliated federations. Now, it remains to be seen how many more will follow Wales' path.

Read also “We do not own football”: UEFA responds to Infantino's idea of ​​negotiating World Cup shares

With AP, Reuters and EFE

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