
Fifa paid its president Gianni Infantino an amount in the millions in addition to his regular salary, which was not shown in the annual report.
Research by the "Times" and "ESPN" reveals that FIFA President Gianni Infantino received an additional 1.5 million euros from a US subsidiary in addition to his official salary, which, according to experts, violates FIFA's transparency statutes.
AI-generated summary
Since 2016, FIFA has been required to annually disclose the remuneration of its president and general secretary. Article 43 of the FIFA statutes explicitly requires this transparency.
Fifa has paid its president Gianni Infantino more than $1 million in addition to his regular salary and bonuses.
This was the result of research by the Times, which coincides with findings from ESPN. These payments were not publicly disclosed. This could be a violation of FIFA's statutes.
According to the Times, Infantino received two separate salaries: one from FIFA in Switzerland, which is disclosed in the annual report, and another which was paid by the World Cup organizer in the United States and was not disclosed.
Since Infantino's election as president in 2016, Fifa has committed to publishing his salary, bonuses and allowances, as well as those of the general secretary, every year.
In 2024, Infantino received around 4.5 million euros, according to Fifa's annual report. However, a tax return for this year, which was submitted to the US Internal Revenue Service by the company "FWC2026 US Inc.", which was founded to organize the World Cup, shows that Infantino received a further 1.5 million euros, which FIFA did not publicly report in its annual report.
Miguel Maduro, the former chairman of FIFA's governance committee, described the non-publication of the additional payments as "a clear violation of FIFA's statutes" and called for an independent investigation.
Article 43, paragraph 13 of the Fifa statutes reads: "The individual remuneration of the Fifa President, the members of the Council and the Fifa General Secretary must be publicly disclosed." Maduro told the "Times": "It is a clear violation of the rules if he receives further amounts from companies affiliated with Fifa and this is not published."
The Times asked FIFA for an explanation about the additional undisclosed payments to Infantino, but in its response FIFA did not address why they were not reported in the annual report.
A Fifa spokesman said: »The Fifa President's annual remuneration and other contractual benefits are determined by Fifa's Remuneration Committee. Fifa contributes to social security contributions, the pension fund and other contractual benefits for the President, as mentioned in the Fifa annual report. These services will be reported to the US authorities in accordance with reporting requirements.
Fifa did not respond to questions from the Times about whether Infantino received other undisclosed amounts before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar or in 2025 and 2026.
55 officials from the European Football Association agreed in Berlin: Gianni Infantino must be replaced as FIFA boss. But UEFA has long been concerned with more than just personnel. Read here how the DFB and Uefa want to revolutionize world football.
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