FIFA Blasts UEFA with 'Smear Campaign' Claim as World Cup Rights Row Turns Legal

FIFA has accused European football's governing body of waging a 'smear campaign' against president Gianni Infantino, dramatically escalating its bitter dispute with UEFA over the collapsed attempt to sell a slice of the World Cup to private investors. The explosive allegation, reported by Sky Sports, forms part of FIFA's legal challenge connected to the abandoned deal, which would have seen a portion of World Cup broadcasting and commercial rights packaged and sold to private equity firms. That proposal provoked a united front of opposition from UEFA, European leagues, players' unions and fan groups, all of whom warned that inviting private capital into football's most prestigious competition risked putting investor profits ahead of the sport's integrity. Faced with that resistance, FIFA ultimately withdrew the plan — but rather than drawing a line under the affair, the row has now spilled into the legal arena. According to Sky Sports, FIFA's filing claims that UEFA's opposition to the rights sale amounted not to legitimate commercial criticism, but to a coordinated effort to damage Infantino's reputation and undermine the governing body's global standing. The 'smear campaign' accusation marks a startling new low in relations between football's two most powerful institutions. The stakes could hardly be higher. The 2026 World Cup — expanded to 48 teams and staged across the United States, Canada and Mexico — is set to be the biggest edition in the tournament's history, generating revenues measured in the billions. Control over how those rights are sold, and who ultimately profits from them, has become the defining battleground for the future of the global game. UEFA, for its part, has consistently defended its opposition as a matter of principle, arguing that handing World Cup rights to private investors would have opened the door to financial interests whose priorities lie outside football itself. European football's leadership has also raised concerns about transparency and the long-term consequences for federations and fans worldwide. For Infantino, the confrontation is the latest chapter in a frequently fractious relationship with the European game. The FIFA president has repeatedly clashed with UEFA over governance, competition formats and commercial strategy, and this legal salvo suggests neither side is prepared to back down. With the tournament kicking off across North America, the sport finds itself in the uncomfortable position of fighting itself on the eve of its grandest spectacle. How the legal dispute unfolds — and whether FIFA can substantiate its smear campaign claim — could reshape the balance of power in world football for years to come. As Sky Sports' reporting makes clear, this is far more than a commercial squabble: it is a war for control of the World Cup itself. Source: Sky Sports