Gianni Infantino has been accused of violating FIFA’s statutes after a secret $2.4m AUD pay package additional to his regular salary and bonuses was revealed.
As per The Telegraph UK and The Times, Infantino’s extra earnings came from a FIFA subsidiary that was set up when organising the World Cup, but football’s governing body failed to mention that payment in its annual report in 2024.
Gianni Infantino is hoping to be re-elected as FIFA president next March. Getty Images
As per FIFA’s regulations, all individual compensation for the president, members of its council and also the secretary general are required to be made public.
The annual report stated that Infantino was earning $8.2m annually, including his bonus. Mattias Grafstrom, FIFA’s secretary general, earns $2.2 per year.
Grafstrom and Victor Montagliani, president of the CONCACAF and chairman on the board for the World Cup, did not receive the additional sum Infantino did.
The $2.4m payment was reportedly to cover Infantino’s visits to the US in the build-up to the World Cup, where he stayed in a waterfront mansion in Miami.
Reports state Infantino is believed to have received a similar additional sum in 2025 and 2026, but those figures could be of a larger than the one he got in 2024.
The discovery will be no help for Infantino when trying to win back the support of some federations, with UEFA leading calls for a new president to be named.
Ex-Tottenham Hotspur defender Ramon Vega has put his hand up to challenge for the presidency, with Norwegian football federation boss Lise Klaveness, who has questioned Infantino in the past, also expected to run for the position.
Craig Foster believes the revelation “must be the end” of Infantino’s reign, while Miguel Maduro, a former chairman of FIFA’s governance committee, called for further investigations into the additional funds paid to the current president.
“It is a clear contravention of the rules if he is paid other amounts by companies related to FIFA and it is not made public,” he told The Times.
Infantino will have to face the noise of an already angry council later this week, with a meeting scheduled to take place in Zurich on Friday (AEDT). A number of major controversies in recent months are expected to be raised at that meeting, with FIFA vice-president Debbie Hewitt expected to call for Infantino to release all documents relating to his failed plan to sell shares in the organisation’s tournaments.
Hewitt is also expected to request files about the controversial decision to scrap US striker Folarin Baogun’s ban despite receiving a red card at the World Cup.