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FIFA Seeks to Toss Antitrust Case Over AI-Related Court Sanctions

By  |  October 7, 2026
Visa, FIFA, Women’s World Cup 2023, football

FIFA is asking a U.S. federal court to throw out an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Puerto Rico Soccer League, arguing that attorneys for the plaintiffs have failed to pay sanctions imposed after they submitted court papers containing dozens of faulty legal citations.

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    The latest request adds an unusual artificial-intelligence dimension to a dispute over soccer competition in Puerto Rico. Chief U.S. District Judge Raúl Arias-Marxuach previously concluded that filings by the plaintiffs’ lawyers contained 55 erroneous citations that appeared to have been generated with artificial intelligence, according to Reuters.

    FIFA said in a court filing Tuesday that the plaintiffs’ failure to satisfy the resulting financial sanction provides grounds to dismiss the case, Reuters reported. The judge last year ordered more than $24,400 in legal fees to be paid to FIFA and other defendants in connection with the citation problems.

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    The sanctioned lawyers, José Olmo-Rodríguez and Ibrahim Reyes, represent the Puerto Rico Soccer League. They have denied using artificial intelligence to prepare the problematic filings and did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment on FIFA’s latest move.

    Related: FIFA Faces Expanded EU Antitrust Challenge Over Women’s Soccer Calendar

    The underlying lawsuit accuses FIFA and other defendants of conspiring to limit soccer tournaments and matches in Puerto Rico, according to Reuters. FIFA has denied wrongdoing.

    Attorneys for the league are opposing dismissal, arguing that ending the litigation because of the unpaid sanction would effectively penalize their client for conduct attributed to its lawyers. In their court filing, they also said they had not challenged either the sanction itself or the amount imposed and had not indicated that payment would never be made, Reuters reported.

    The dispute comes as courts across the U.S. grapple with errors linked to lawyers’ use of generative AI. Judges have increasingly confronted filings containing inaccurate or nonexistent authorities, prompting warnings about attorneys’ obligation to verify AI-assisted work before submitting it to a court. Reuters reported separately this month that a federal judge in Manhattan warned that unchecked use of the technology can create risks for clients and potentially undermine the training of junior lawyers.

    The Puerto Rico case is Puerto Rico Soccer League NFP Corp. et al. v. Federación Puertorriqueña de Futbol et al., in the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, case No. 3:23-cv-01203. According to Reuters, Reyes and Olmo-Rodríguez represent the plaintiffs, while H. Christopher Boehning and César Rivière of Linklaters represent FIFA.

    Source: Reuters