FIFA has accused UEFA of conducting a “smear campaign against it and its leadership” in a sharp escalation of the public dispute between the two football governing bodies.

Last week, it emerged that UEFA is preparing to file a criminal complaint against FIFA president Gianni Infantino over his failed plan to sell commercial stakes in the World Cup to private investors. The proposal triggered widespread backlash and threatened to ignite a civil war within the sport. There is no sign of the row easing, even after UEFA backed away from a proposed boycott of the World Cup and other FIFA competitions.

A 56-page document, submitted by UEFA’s lawyers in a federal court in the United States and seen by The Independent, states that UEFA is “preparing to bring criminal claims in Switzerland against Infantino” for “criminal mismanagement” in connection with FIFA’s now-abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal.

FIFA has now hit back. Several outlets reported on Thursday that world football’s governing body had filed papers in the US asking a court either to delay granting access to documents or to reject UEFA’s application altogether by the end of September.

In its motion to intervene, FIFA argued that the creation of FFE was “only a proposal” and would have been implemented only with the consent of the majority of FIFA’s member associations and the “relevant approvals” of the FIFA Council.

It said: “Rather than participate in that democratic process, UEFA issued a press release - the beginning of a weeks-long smear campaign against FIFA and its leadership.”

The filing also alleged that UEFA’s legal action contains “legal deficiencies” and accused the European governing body of acting out of a desire to stop other countries from gaining the “financial strength to compete with the European elite”.

It said: “If soccer is strengthened in the developing world, global competition increases, which ultimately reduces UEFA's market power and provides more competition for its flagship tournaments.

“By raising funds to allow some of FIFA’s smaller member associations to better develop soccer, FFE would lead to more players from those nations choosing to represent their countries of origin and playing in their home leagues rather than playing abroad.

“All of this would erode UEFA’s dominance over other regions of the world.”

UEFA’s court filing described the FFE proposal as “a vehicle for Infantino and a small circle to acquire a permanent stake and otherwise profit from FIFA’s most valuable assets.”

The document was filed in Florida, where two FIFA entities — FIFA Americas and FWC2026 US — are based. It seeks documents and communications from both organisations relating to the “origination, development, internal discussion, and public announcement of the FFE proposal, including FIFA’s internal communications and discussions”.