Uefa Pursuing Criminal Legal Action Against Infantino: Inside Football’s Biggest Power Struggle

Uefa is preparing criminal legal proceedings against Fifa president Gianni Infantino. Documents seen by BBC Sport show European football’s governing body has filed an application requesting access to evidence and documents for use in proceedings in Switzerland against Infantino personally, accusing him of “criminal mismanagement”. At the centre of the dispute is the now-scrapped plan to sell off stakes in the World Cup and Fifa’s other competitions to private investors. This is the sharpest institutional escalation world football has seen in years, and English clubs have plenty riding on how it ends.

What Uefa Is Accusing Infantino Of

Uefa’s allegation is “criminal mismanagement”, a Swiss legal concept covering someone entrusted with managing another party’s interests who acts against those interests. The trigger is the abandoned proposal to sell equity stakes in Fifa competitions, the World Cup included, to private investors. According to the documents seen by BBC Sport, Uefa has lodged a formal application for access to evidence — a standard preliminary step under Swiss law before a full criminal complaint can be pursued.

Two qualifications matter here. First, the plan was scrapped, so no transaction is in progress. Second, nothing has been proven: no charge has been brought and Infantino is entitled to the presumption of innocence. What exists at this stage is a preparatory legal move carrying enormous political weight.

Ceferin And Infantino: How The Relationship Broke Down

The relationship between Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin and Gianni Infantino has worsened in recent months, and this filing is where it has landed. Their careers were once intertwined: Infantino ran Uefa’s administration before becoming Fifa president in 2016, the same year Ceferin took charge of European football.

The underlying fight is over control. Uefa’s position is that competitions should remain governed by football’s federations, while opening them to outside capital would hand a share of that control to investors. The same argument shaped Europe’s response to the European Super League, and it runs through every current dispute over the international calendar, the expansion of Fifa tournaments and how revenue is split between clubs, leagues and national associations.

Why The Premier League Should Care

English football is exposed on two fronts: fixture congestion and money. Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Tottenham release large groups of internationals in every window, and Premier League managers have spent seasons complaining that the global calendar leaves no meaningful recovery period. Every additional Fifa competition tightens that squeeze further, and player unions have raised workload concerns repeatedly.

The financial side is just as direct. Clubs are compensated for releasing players to national teams through programmes negotiated between Fifa, Uefa and the European Club Association. If ownership of world football’s flagship competitions were ever opened to private capital, those arrangements would have to be renegotiated from scratch. For clubs supplying the bulk of England’s squad, the difference between the current model and an investor-backed one is not a technicality — it is real money and real match minutes.

What Happens Next In The Swiss Courts

The process is at a very early stage. The application for access to documents must be granted first. Uefa could then formalise a criminal complaint, after which Swiss prosecutors would decide whether to open an investigation and whether the evidence supports any charge. Cases of this type typically run for months or years, and many never reach trial.

So the two timelines diverge. Legally, little will move quickly. Politically, the impact is immediate: a continental confederation publicly accusing the head of the world governing body of criminal mismanagement weakens his standing among Fifa’s 211 member associations and reshapes the internal balance of power ahead of future Fifa elections.

Three Things To Watch From Here

First, the official response from Fifa and from Infantino himself, who has not been charged or convicted of anything. Second, where Europe’s national associations line up — including the FA, which will have to decide between backing Uefa publicly or staying neutral. Third, whether the stake-sale concept genuinely stays dead or resurfaces in a different form.

For supporters, nothing changes about this weekend’s Premier League fixtures. But the outcome will help determine who controls the calendar, the competitions and the revenue of world football over the next decade — and that eventually reaches the pitch, in the shape of how many games players such as Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane are asked to play each season.

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