Secret salary: a new scandal pursues Infantino

FIFA president in fresh predicament

Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, has been accused of committing "another clear breach of FIFA regulations" after the revelation of a pay package worth £1.3 million on top of his declared earnings of £4 million.

According to British newspaper "Telegraph", the extra money came from a FIFA subsidiary set up to organise the World Cup in the United States, and it appears nowhere in the governing body's 2024 annual report.

Filings with the US Internal Revenue Service show that FWC2026 US Inc paid him $1.76 million (£1.3 million). FIFA did not disclose that sum for the year in question.

In 2024, FIFA's annual report stated that Infantino was paid 4.27 million Swiss francs (£3.88 million).

That omission matters because FIFA's own statutes state that "the individual compensation of the FIFA president must be made public".

Miguel Maduro, the former head of FIFA's governance committee, told The Times, which was the first to publish a report on the US accounts filings, that the failure to declare the additional payments breached the organisation's regulations.

He added: "It is a clear breach of the rules if other sums were paid to him by companies linked to FIFA and were not declared," calling for investigations to be carried out.  

"FIFA regulations impose an obligation of full transparency," he continued. "And it is not appropriate for the compensation sub-committee to authorise other forms of remuneration."

Speculation has since grown that the payment funded his lavish lifestyle in Miami, where he was living in a waterfront mansion for tens of thousands of dollars a month before the start of the World Cup.

Of the $1.76 million FWC2026 paid out for 2024, $626,229 was logged as "other reportable compensation" on top of his basic salary and bonus.

A source, who shared the accounts, told The Times that Infantino received similar amounts, or perhaps more, for 2025 and 2026.