Infantino accused of banking secret salary in new FIFA row

Gianni Infantino has been accused of a new “clear violation of FIFA’s statutes” after a £1.3 million ($2.47 million) pay package on top of his £4 million declared earnings was unearthed.

The extra riches from a FIFA subsidiary World Cup organising company in the US appear to have been omitted from the governing body’s 2024 annual report.

US Internal Revenue Service filings show the company, FWC2026 US Inc, paid him $US1.76 million that was not publicly disclosed by FIFA for the relevant year. In 2024, Infantino was stated by FIFA’s annual report as earning 4.27 million Swiss francs ($7.35 million).

The omission in the relevant annual report comes despite FIFA statutes reading that “the individual compensation of the FIFA president ... shall be made public”.

Miguel Maduro, the former chairman of FIFA’s governance committee, told London’s The Times, which first reported on the US account filings, that the failure to make the extra payments public was against the organisation’s regulations.

“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 said, calling for investigations.

“The FIFA statutes impose an obligation of full transparency. It is not appropriate for the compensation sub-committee to authorise other forms of remuneration.”

The payment has prompted speculation that it was used to cover his lavish life in Miami, living in a waterfront mansion for tens of thousands of dollars a month before the World Cup.

The FWC2026 $US1.76 million payment for 2024 included $US626,229 of “other reportable compensation” as well as base salary and bonus.

A source who shared the accounts told The Times that Infantino was paid similar sums, or potentially more, in 2025 and 2026.

Mattias Grafstrom, FIFA’s secretary general, received no extra payment from FWC2026, nor did Victor Montagliani, CONCACAF’s president and chairman of the FWC2026 board.

A FIFA spokesman said: “The FIFA president’s annual compensation, as well as other contractual benefits, are decided by the FIFA compensation sub-committee. FIFA contributes to social charges, pension fund and other contractual employee benefits for the president, as mentioned in the FIFA annual report. These benefits are reported to the US authorities in line with reporting requirements.”

Details of the payment came in a week when Infantino was already facing renewed hostilities at a FIFA Council meeting on Thursday.

However, the world governing body’s president is set to cling on to power as no other candidates for next year’s election are expected to come forward.

An agenda, seen by Telegraph Sport, for the meeting in Zurich will nevertheless allow for scrutiny of the major controversies that have engulfed Infantino over the last year or so after submissions from its 37 council members.

One slot will be dedicated to discussing FIFA’s controversial peace prize, which could put Infantino in an awkward spot as he is yet to put forward a nomination to the council for this year after he unilaterally handed the inaugural annual award to US President Donald Trump last December.

Debbie Hewitt, the FA chairwoman and a FIFA vice-president, is expected to speak up after she wrote to Infantino to demand he release all documents and files relating to both his abandoned World Cup sell-off plan and the decision to suspend the ban of Folarin Balogun, the US striker.

Hewitt wanted FIFA Council members to be given full disclosure of all the information and communications before October 15. Her calls for an independent review of both controversies are supported by other nations and leagues, including the Premier League.

Thursday’s summit will be the first formal council meeting since members were kept in the dark about Infantino’s scheme involving private investors, including Joshua Kushner – the brother of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner. The FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposals only surfaced via a leak on July 28.

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