FIFA will allow members of its council to review documents concerning the abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise scheme, but the governing body has not directly answered more than 50 questions from UEFA about governance and recent controversies.
In a letter to the FIFA Council, secretary general Mattias Grafström said the material would be available for in-person viewing at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich. Members will be permitted to inspect the documents only under strict confidentiality rules. FIFA has not clarified the documents’ precise scope, and council members must apply for a visit by 16 November.
UEFA wrote to Grafström on 19 October, giving FIFA two weeks to respond to questions about the scheme, the Folarin Balogun affair, the FIFA peace prize, the organisation’s relationship with Donald Trump and other disputed decisions from the past year. UEFA also requested access to all documents concerning the scheme, asking FIFA to explain individually any refusal to provide material.
The deadline passed on Monday night. FIFA Council members are understood to have been told that a response is being prepared and will be shared with them. FIFA’s position is that UEFA’s questions were too extensive to answer within two weeks. The questions followed FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s instruction at a council meeting last month that delegates submit queries in writing before their next meeting in December.
It is not yet clear whether the document reviews will give council members the information they seek. In August, UEFA applied to four US courts for the release of material related to the scheme, with the stated aim of filing a criminal complaint in Switzerland alleging financial mismanagement. Preliminary rulings are pending, and the amount of information available for inspection could be affected.
FIFA has accused UEFA of harassment and misinformation and denied wrongdoing by Infantino. UEFA and its allies are also reported to be close to identifying a potential candidate to challenge him in the FIFA presidential election in March.
Sources: The Guardian Sport.