The European football body, UEFA, has confirmed to Al Jazeera that a preservation letter has been sent to the global governing body, FIFA, following Gianni Infantino’s failed plan to sell a stake in future World Cup profits to private investors.
“We can confirm that a document preservation letter was sent,” UEFA wrote in an email to Al Jazeera on Tuesday, adding that no further comment would be made at this time.
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The preservation letter, a formal legal document, serves to notify FIFA that they should retain data, documents and electronic messages as potential evidence.
Infantino’s secretive proposal to raise $4.2bn from investors, including the New York investment firm of Joshua Kushner, was dropped early on Saturday, days after the revelation provoked a global furore.
UEFA led the backlash, and on Thursday its 55 member federations met and agreed to boycott all FIFA events and competitions while the proposal was active.
It is understood that UEFA has been considering legal action since Infantino revealed FIFA’s plans. Preservation letters, also known as litigation hold letters, are sent in relation to potential or ongoing legal proceedings.
UEFA lawyers have extended their notice to FIFA, according to The Associated Press news agency, to inform them that the European body is “actively considering legal action, arbitration, and/or regulatory complaints … arising out of and in connection with the FFE [FIFA Forward Enterprise] plan proposed by FIFA and all related matters”.
The letter, dated Friday but seen by AP late on Monday, was from New York-based legal firm Dechert.
“UEFA puts you on formal notice that any destruction, deletion, alteration, concealment, or loss of relevant materials following receipt of this notice – or following any earlier date on which you were, or reasonably should have been, aware that proceedings were anticipated – may constitute spoliation of evidence,” the letter said.
It is understood that the preservation letter named 18 FIFA executives, including Infantino, Zurich-based chief financial officer Thomas Peyer, and Arsene Wenger, the coaching great who is FIFA’s head of global football development.
UEFA seeks rival candidate
The Swedish football federation confirmed on Monday that UEFA is actively looking “to come up with an alternative candidate” for FIFA president. The next election is scheduled for March.
On Saturday, UEFA signalled it wants to end Infantino’s decade-long presidency, saying he had lost the confidence of world football and that “no option should be off the table”.
Hours earlier, Infantino had withdrawn the divisive proposal that offered FIFA’s 211 member federations one-off payments of $20m each with a mid-September deadline to accept.
The FFE spin-off valued by FIFA at $20bn would have taken control of the football body’s money-making commercial and tournament operations through at least 2038. It promised to more than double development money over that time for the 211 members who own the Zurich-based not-for-profit governing body.
It was the project of just one man, FIFA’s chief operating officer Kevin Lamour said in a stinging statement on Friday, adding that staff felt deceived by their boss, Infantino.
Legal proceedings are “reasonably anticipated”, UEFA’s lawyer Andrew J Levander wrote, citing the belief of football stakeholders that the plan was “fundamentally incompatible with the proper governance of football”.
UEFA has been most outspoken against its former employee Infantino, while the Asian Football Confederation and CONCACAF, the North and Central American and Caribbean football body, also made strong statements opposing Infantino’s plan.
Infantino has most support from his traditional base in Africa, while South America’s CONMEBOL is relying on him to expand the 2030 World Cup to 64 teams from 48. That would give more hosting games to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, the home country of CONMEBOL president Alejandro Dominguez.
Infantino’s path to stabilising the presidency he has held for 10 and a half years was unclear on Monday, which began in New York with a report he was seeking support from the administration of his close ally, United States President Donald Trump, possibly in a call with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“There are no plans for @SecRubio to speak with Infantino and there is no call this morning,” Dylan Johnson, assistant secretary of state for global public affairs, posted on social media.
A week is a long time in politics
The private equity plan has provoked a stunning turnaround in fortunes for Infantino since it was revealed last Tuesday by The Times in London.
The 56-year-old FIFA leader left New York after the World Cup final two weeks ago, seemingly a lock to be re-elected unopposed next March for a fourth and final term in office through 2031.
The spin-off operation could have created a commissioner-like role for him beyond 2031, paying much more than his current $6m annual salary and bonus deal as president.
FIFA briefed at the World Cup that Infantino had letters of support from about 200 of the 211 member federations.
Those letters are now likely being withdrawn across Europe, with the Wales federation the first to announce its reversal.
The candidate deadline is November 18 for an election exactly four months later in Morocco, one of Infantino’s strongest allies and a cohost of the 2030 tournament with Spain and Portugal.