FIFA president Infantino received $1.72m payment that did not appear in annual report

Gianni Infantino’s declared compensation in FIFA’s 2024 annual report was 4,274,000 Swiss francs in salary and benefits. The president of football’s global governing body also received $1.72 million from FWC2026 that year, according to a US tax filing.

The payment does not appear in FIFA’s 2024 annual report. FWC2026 is the corporation FIFA established in the United States to operate and manage the 2026 World Cup.

The additional payment came to light in FWC2026’s Form 990, its nonprofit filing to the US Internal Revenue Service. US sports outlet ESPN reported the finding on October 13 (Korea time).

Including the FWC2026 compensation, the amount Infantino received from FIFA and FWC2026 in 2024 reached about $6.58 million.

The filing records $626,229 as “other reportable compensation” on top of his basic salary and bonus, within $1.76 million that FWC2026 paid out for 2024.

FIFA’s rules say its compensation committee decides the president’s pay and that individual compensation must be disclosed. The organisation’s statutes state: ‘the individual compensation of the FIFA president must be made public’.

Miguel Maduro, the former chairperson of FIFA’s governance committee, said failure to declare payments from FIFA-linked companies would breach those rules. “It is a clear breach of the rules if other sums were paid to him by companies linked to FIFA and were not declared,” he told The Times.

Maduro said: “FIFA regulations impose an obligation of full transparency”. He added: “And it is not appropriate for the compensation sub-committee to authorise other forms of remuneration”.

FIFA rejected the allegation in a statement by a spokesperson to ESPN. “FIFA fully complies with all reporting obligations and strongly denies any allegation that there was a breach of regulations”.

It remains unclear whether FIFA’s compensation committee approved the FWC2026 payment, whether Infantino knew of or approved its structure, and what justification FIFA or FWC2026 gave for it. It is also unknown whether other FIFA executives received payments from related entities, whether the omission was intentional or an administrative oversight, and whether FIFA’s governance bodies will take action.

The FIFA council is scheduled to meet in Zurich, Switzerland, on October 15.