Nov 12 (Reuters) – A US judge on Thursday denied an attempt by FIFA’s American subsidiaries to intervene in UEFA’s effort to obtain evidence for a potential Swiss criminal case against FIFA President Gianni Infantino over his abandoned World Cup commercial-rights plan.
“US FIFA parties have no direct, substantial and legally protectable interest in the subject matter of this application,” US District Judge Jeannette Vargas said in her ruling.
“In light of this determination, the Court exercises its discretion to decline leave to intervene.”
European soccer’s governing body had asked for permission to obtain testimony and documents from FIFA entities in Florida for use in a planned criminal complaint in Switzerland against Infantino and other FIFA officials over a since-abandoned $20 billion World Cup sell-off plan known as FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE).
In a motion to intervene filed in September, FIFA asked the court to defer ruling on UEFA’s application or allow it to oppose the request.
The world governing body argued that UEFA was seeking discovery for “purportedly contemplated (but non-existent) Swiss criminal proceedings,” and was seeking to derail the FFE proposal from the outset.
That proposal was withdrawn on July 31 after UEFA and other regional governing bodies objected.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
