UEFA gives FIFA 2 November deadline to release governance documents

UEFA has set FIFA a 2 November deadline to release documents concerning its governance and decision-making, according to BBC Sport. The demand follows last week's FIFA Council meeting, where president Gianni Infantino apologised over his abandoned World Cup investment proposal but did not provide the documents sought by European football's governing body.

BBC Sport reported that it had seen a letter from UEFA general secretary Theodore Theodoridis saying important questions remained unanswered. The letter asks FIFA to explain each decision to withhold information, including the grounds for doing so. UEFA also submitted an eight-page document covering concerns about FIFA Forward Enterprise, the FIFA Peace Prize and the suspended ban imposed on United States striker Folarin Balogun.

The latest request comes after the Council met in Zurich on 15 October. As BBC Sport reported at the time, FIFA Forward Enterprise would have transferred a portion of FIFA's commercial rights to a private investment firm. Infantino abandoned the proposal within days of its emergence. In a video statement after the Council meeting, he apologised for failures in communication and consultation, while maintaining that the project had been a proposal rather than an agreed transaction.

Infantino said the plan was intended to increase investment in member associations, not replace support available from existing resources. He also said he would respond to questions in writing. Football Association chair Debbie Hewitt, who is a FIFA vice-president, told BBC Sport after the meeting that requested papers had still not been supplied and that she had been asked to submit questions in writing.

The Council discussions also produced further review work. BBC Sport reported that FIFA's legal committee would examine a proposed disciplinary-code change intended to prevent the suspension of an automatic one-match red-card ban. Separately, the social committee was to investigate how the Peace Prize came to be awarded, with both matters due to return to the Council in December.

UEFA's letter now sets a specific deadline for the disclosure request following those discussions. BBC Sport said it had approached FIFA for comment on the new demand. Its report did not include a response from the world governing body or confirmation that the requested documents would be released by 2 November.