UEFA delivered legal notices to FIFA's North American headquarters on Alhambra Circle in Coral Gables on Thursday, Aug. 27, making the local office a target for document preservation in a potential criminal case against FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
The Union of European Football Associations filed court documents in Manhattan and in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida seeking discovery against FIFA as it prepares a criminal complaint against Infantino. The complaint would allege criminal mismanagement under Article 158 of the Swiss Criminal Code, according to CBS News, which cited a 56-page filing viewed by the Associated Press.
The dispute centers on Infantino's failed plan to sell a 20% stake in a new subsidiary called FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) to investors led by Miami resident Joshua Kushner's firm, Thrive Eternal. The deal valued FIFA's World Cup commercial rights at roughly $20 billion.
Kushner would have paid $4.2 billion for the stake. UEFA's filing calls that figure "an absurdly low enterprise value" that "was neither the product of an open, competitive auction, nor tested by any independent valuer," according to CBS News.
Infantino scrapped the plan on Saturday, Aug. 1, after soccer's continental governing bodies in Europe, Asia and North America united in opposition. A senior Infantino adviser who sat on a White House panel also resigned.
The Coral Gables connection
FIFA opened its 60,000-square-foot North American headquarters at 396 Alhambra Circle in 2024, housing its Legal and Compliance Division steps from Miracle Mile, according to the Gables Gazette. About 100 staff relocated from Zurich.
UEFA used a Section 1782 order, a federal mechanism that allows a party in a foreign legal proceeding to seek discovery from a U.S.-based entity, according to the Guardian. That made FIFA's Coral Gables office a direct target for document preservation.
UEFA's filing names 14 FIFA executives required to preserve all materials related to the FFE plan, according to the Guardian. UEFA also sought discovery from Thrive Capital Management, Kushner's New York investment fund.
"For the last 100 years, FIFA was based in Zurich, but we are a global association," FIFA Chief Legal and Compliance Officer Emilio Garcia Silvero said at the Ole Soccer Miami conference in Coral Gables in June 2025. "By establishing this office in [Coral Gables], we reach 10 member associations in South America and 35 more in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean."
FIFA Forward Enterprise is also registered in Florida, according to entity records.
What's next
No criminal complaint has been formally filed in Switzerland yet. UEFA's court documents state the organization is "contemplating" the proceeding. FIFA and Thrive had not responded to requests for comment as of Thursday's reporting by CBS News.
