Makan Delrahim, the assistant attorney general for the antitrust division, wrote in March to the FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, and Cindy Parlow Cone, who heads U.S. Soccer, to express his concerns after learning an influential FIFA advisory committee had recommended to FIFA’s governing council that “official domestic matches should take place on the territory of the member association concerned.”

The FIFA Council has yet to ratify the recommendation.

“We specifically are concerned that FIFA could violate U.S. antitrust laws by restricting the territory in which teams can play league games,” Delrahim wrote in the letter, which has not been previously disclosed. Relevent included the letter as part of its amended complaint when it filed a new lawsuit in the Southern District of New York on Tuesday.

FIFA did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The Justice Department’s involvement adds a new dimension to the case brought by Relevent. FIFA has tried to cultivate a close relationship with U.S. authorities since the corruption indictments were handed down in 2015, dismantling the top tier of international soccer’s leadership. FIFA’s top lawyers have been in regular contact with American justice officials in an attempt to prove the organization has changed significantly and should be repaid some of the hundreds of millions of dollars in restitution seized from defendants who admitted to participating in bribery and kickback schemes.

Despite the changes, FIFA is still mired in legal troubles. The most serious of them concerns its president, Infantino, who was informed in July that he is the subject of a criminal investigation over his meetings with the Swiss official overseeing the FIFA corruption inquiry. Infantino has said any claims of improper behavior are “absurd.” The official, Michael Lauber, has resigned as attorney general and last week was stripped of immunity from prosecution.

FIFA has also invested significant time and effort in strengthening its relationships in the United States after awarding the right to host the 2026 World Cup to a U.S.-led bid that included Canada and Mexico. Infantino has visited the White House for meetings with President Trump, and was also invited in January to address guests at a dinner that Trump hosted at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Source: New York Times

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