BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona's World Cup winners with Spain will not be honored by the club at its first home game of the season on Thursday because of an incident involving the “estelada” flag, Catalonia's pro-independence symbol.
Instead, an act supporting the estelada organized by a local group was expected to take place at Camp Nou stadium, with some 10,000 flags given to fans.
Barcelona has eight World Cup champions in its squad, the most of any club, and it planned a tribute to them before its Spanish league home opener against Athletic Bilbao.
Other Spanish clubs, in partnership with the Spanish soccer federation, had honored their own World Cup champions in tributes that included the displaying of the World Cup trophy and the presence of Spain coach Luis de la Fuente.
Barcelona said it didn't intend to go ahead with the tribute after one of its fans had an estelada flag taken away from him by police before the team's game at Elche last weekend. The young fan confronted the officers, who hit him with batons before detaining him.
The Catalan club said it regretted the confiscation of the flags from its fans, saying the estelada "is a legally endorsed symbol and its display constitutes a legitimate exercise of freedom of expression." It said “it cannot in itself be considered an incitement to hatred or violence.”
Barcelona said it considered the “procedure used to detain one of our fans was disproportionate and that the use of force lacked the necessary justification and appropriateness.”
The incident quickly escalated to the political sphere, with local politicians expressing their opinions.
A Catalan organization was planning to hand out 10,000 estelada flags outside the Camp Nou before Thursday's game. Barcelona club president Joan Laporta highlighted the peaceful “act of exaltation of the estelada,” which he said represented the Catalans' right to freedom of expression. Barcelona was not directly organizing the event.
Laporta said it was not “the most appropriate moment” to offer the tribute to the Spain players, adding that “soccer must unite, not generate confrontations.”
Laporta said the Spanish soccer federation understood the club's position.
The eight Barcelona players who helped Spain win its second World Cup trophy last month are Joan García, Eric García, Pedri, Pau Cubarsí, Gavi, Rodri, Dani Olmo and Lamine Yamal.
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Barcelona's Fermin Lopez, left, celebrates after scoring his side's his fifth goal during a Spanish La Liga soccer match between Elche and Barcelona in Elche, Spain, Sunday, Aug. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Alberto Saiz)
MONACO (AP) — UEFA is preparing a criminal complaint against FIFA President Gianni Infantino in Swiss courts for possible financial mismanagement over his failed plan to sell future World Cup profits to private investors.
UEFA filed documents in a Manhattan court requesting discovery of potential evidence from the New York investment fund, Thrive Capital Management, founded by Joshua Kushner.
UEFA also filed a request in a southern Florida district for authorization of discovery “in a foreign proceeding” against FIFA itself, which has offices in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables.
Thrive and Kushner were to be the anchor investors intending to pay FIFA $4.2 billion for a 20% stake in a subsidiary that would run the soccer body’s commercial events, including the World Cup.
“UEFA and its counsel are contemplating a Swiss criminal proceeding against Infantino and possibly other FIFA officials for criminal mismanagement under Article 158 of the Swiss Criminal Code,” UEFA’s lawyers state in a 56-page document seen by The Associated Press.
The document suggests the $4.2 billion figure could be a “fraudulently off-market price promoted by Infantino for his own benefit.”
FIFA is expected to have about $5 billion in cash reserves after the World Cup in North America boosted its revenue to a record $15 billion over the 2023-26 commercial cycle.
Infantino dropped the sell-off plan on Aug. 1 after a furious backlash by global soccer leaders, including UEFA.
UEFA first threatened to take legal action on Aug. 3 when it warned FIFA against destroying or hiding any "relevant materials” related to the plan. Thursday's legal move was revealed to its member federations in Monaco just two hours before the Champions League draw began.
“Infantino claimed that the plan would ‘unleash the commercial potential and opportunity that FIFA has,’” UEFA lawyers told the courts. “In truth, it was a vehicle for Infantino and that small circle to acquire a permanent stake in and otherwise profit from FIFA’s most valuable assets to the detriment of FIFA, its members, and other parties within the football family.
“Under the terms Infantino announced, those investors stood to acquire a permanent financial interest in FIFA’s commercial arm for $4.2 billion, implying an absurdly low enterprise value of only approximately $20 billion, a figure that was neither the product of an open, competitive auction, nor tested by any independent valuer.”
Thrive declined to comment. FIFA was approached for comment.
It was unclear if UEFA would send a potential criminal complaint to the Swiss federal prosecution office in Bern or to local prosecutors in FIFA's home city Zurich.
The Swiss attorney general's office has a poor record in recent years prosecuting cases of alleged corruption linked to FIFA and soccer officials.
Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter, former UEFA president Michel Platini and the influential Qatari president of Champions League title holder Paris Saint-Germain, Nasser al-Khelaïfi, all were acquitted twice at trials in Switzerland.
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FIFA President Gianni Infantino attends the closing ceremony of the Esports World Cup at the Grand Palais in Paris, France, Sunday Aug. 23, 2026. (Teresa Suarez/Pool Photo via AP)
FILE - FIFA President Gianni Infantino gestures as he meets the media at the FIFA World Cup closing press conference in Doha, Qatar, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)
