Fifa to allow council members to view FFE documents at Zurich headquarters
Fifa will grant its council members access to documents relating to the Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) scheme for in-person inspection at its headquarters in Zurich, the governing body said in a letter to the Fifa Council on 2 November. The announcement comes amid Uefa’s continued demand for answers on governance and recent controversies to which Fifa has not responded directly.
In a letter sent to the Fifa Council, secretary general Mattias Grafström told members the material relating to FFE will be released for them to view at Fifa’s Zurich offices under strict confidentiality protocols. Council members will be permitted only to view the documents; the exact nature and scope of the files was described as unclear. A deadline of 16 November has been set for council members to apply for such visits, a date that falls two days before candidates for next year’s Fifa election are required to declare their hand.
Uefa had written to Grafström on 19 October, giving Fifa a fortnight to answer more than 50 questions about FFE, the Folarin Balogun affair, the Fifa peace prize, the organisation’s relations with Donald Trump and other major decisions that have caused controversy in the past 12 months. Uefa asked for all documents regarding FFE to be made accessible and said any refusal to comply should be "justified individually, with a clear explanation of the specific grounds relied upon". The deadline imposed by Uefa expired on Monday night.
Fifa Council members have been told a formal response is being worked on and will be shared with them, but Fifa’s publicly stated position is that Uefa’s questions were too substantial in number to be answered within the two-week turnaround. Gianni Infantino had told delegates at the Fifa Council meeting last month to submit questions in writing before the council next convenes in December. It remains to be seen whether those council members who travel to Zurich for the document inspections will depart with the answers they require.
In August, Uefa made an application to four courts in the US for the release of documents pertaining to FFE with a view to lodging a criminal complaint in Switzerland alleging financial mismanagement. Preliminary rulings in those applications are yet to be handed down and the amount of information available for council members to view may be affected by those legal processes.
Fifa has accused Uefa of "harassment" and "misinformation" and has denied wrongdoing by Infantino. Those statements form part of the public dispute between the two governing bodies as document access and the scope of disclosure are negotiated.
As reported last week, Uefa and its allies are close to identifying a candidate who could stand against Infantino in March, with movement possible early this month.