NYON, Switzerland — UEFA has instructed FIFA to preserve records connected to Gianni Infantino’s abandoned proposal to sell private investors a stake in the governing body’s future World Cup business.
European football’s governing body confirmed on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, that it had served FIFA with a document-preservation notice, a step commonly taken when legal proceedings or regulatory complaints are being considered.
“We can confirm that a document preservation letter was sent,” UEFA said.
No case has yet been filed. The notice requires FIFA to retain potentially relevant documents, electronic communications and other material while UEFA evaluates its options.
FIFA had not issued a response to the development.
Letter Signals Possible Legal Proceedings
The notice was sent by Dechert, a New York-based law firm acting for UEFA, and was dated Friday.
According to details of the letter, UEFA is considering several possible courses of action arising from the FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal, including litigation, arbitration and complaints to regulatory bodies.
The legal instruction warned FIFA against deleting, concealing, changing or losing material linked to the project once proceedings had become reasonably foreseeable.
Failure to preserve relevant records could later be treated as the destruction of potential evidence.
The notice reportedly covered 18 senior FIFA figures. They included Infantino, chief financial officer Thomas Peyer and Arsène Wenger, FIFA’s chief of global football development.
Wenger later said he had not participated in the proposal and had first learnt about it through media reports.
The preservation demand does not establish wrongdoing by FIFA or any of the officials named. It ensures that records will remain available should UEFA begin a formal case or ask another authority to examine how the proposal was developed.
Plan Would Have Brought Private Capital Into FIFA
Infantino’s plan sought to raise approximately $4.2 billion from outside investors through a new commercial entity known as FIFA Forward Enterprise.
The project would have transferred control of FIFA’s principal revenue-generating operations, including commercial rights and tournament activities, to the new business until at least 2038.
FIFA valued the proposed entity at about $20 billion.
The organisation’s 211 member associations were offered one-off payments of $20 million if they supported the arrangement before a deadline in mid-September.
FIFA also presented the plan as a means of substantially increasing development funding over the following years.
The investors approached over the proposal reportedly included a New York investment firm associated with Joshua Kushner.
Infantino withdrew the project early on Saturday after football confederations, national associations and FIFA employees objected to its financial structure and the process through which it had been advanced.
UEFA Led Resistance to the Proposal
UEFA became the most forceful institutional opponent of the plan.
Representatives of its 55 national associations met last Thursday and agreed that European teams would withdraw from FIFA events and competitions for as long as the proposed transaction remained active.
The threat created the possibility of a serious rupture in international football, including disruption to competitions organised by FIFA.
The Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF, which oversees football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean, also criticised the absence of wider consultation.
Opponents questioned whether a privately backed company should control assets belonging to a non-profit governing body owned collectively by national football associations.
They also argued that a transaction extending beyond 2038 could bind future FIFA administrations to decisions made under Infantino.
FIFA chief operating officer Kevin Lamour publicly distanced himself from the project, describing it as an initiative driven by one person and saying members of staff had felt deceived.
The internal criticism added to pressure from outside FIFA and weakened Infantino’s ability to proceed with the plan.
Infantino’s Leadership Comes Under Pressure
Although the proposal has been withdrawn, the dispute has developed into a wider challenge to Infantino’s presidency.
UEFA said on Saturday that he no longer retained the confidence of world football and declared that “no option should be off the table.”
The Swedish football federation subsequently confirmed that European officials were working to identify another candidate for the FIFA presidency.
The election is scheduled to take place in Morocco in March 2027. Prospective candidates must be nominated by November 18.
Infantino, 56, has led FIFA since February 2016 and is seeking another term that would keep him in office until 2031.
Before the investment dispute, FIFA officials had said he possessed written support from about 200 of the organisation’s 211 national associations. That support is now being reassessed in parts of Europe.
The Football Association of Wales was among the first national bodies to withdraw its endorsement. Other European federations have also distanced themselves from his re-election campaign.
Infantino continues to receive public backing from several associations outside Europe, including countries that rely heavily on FIFA’s development funding.
Proposal Raised Questions About Infantino’s Future
The proposed commercial company could also have created a senior executive position extending beyond the end of Infantino’s permitted presidential tenure.
Critics questioned whether such a role might have allowed him to retain influence over FIFA’s most valuable competitions and commercial assets after leaving the presidency.
Infantino’s existing annual salary and bonus arrangement is valued at about $6 million. The proposed executive position was expected to carry substantially greater remuneration.
No final employment agreement had been approved, and FIFA abandoned the project before the transaction could be completed.
The controversy nevertheless changed Infantino’s political position within days. He had left the recently concluded World Cup appearing likely to secure another term without significant opposition.
He now faces demands for greater transparency, the withdrawal of endorsements and the possibility of a rival candidate supported by UEFA.
Legal Notice Keeps Dispute Alive
With the FIFA Forward Enterprise plan withdrawn, the threatened boycott of FIFA competitions is no longer active.
UEFA’s preservation notice shows, however, that abandoning the transaction has not ended the dispute.
European officials may seek answers about who designed the proposal, which investors were approached, what commitments were discussed and whether FIFA’s governing rules permitted the transaction to proceed in the manner proposed.
The preserved records could also reveal how extensively FIFA’s council, senior executives and member associations were consulted before financial terms were presented.
UEFA has not said when it will decide whether to begin legal proceedings.
For FIFA, the immediate task is to retain the requested material while attempting to repair relations with its confederations and national associations.
For Infantino, the consequences now extend beyond the failure of one commercial proposal.
The dispute has opened a legal front and transformed an expected re-election campaign into a contest over his continued leadership of world football.
