Infantino Received $1.72 Million From World Cup Organizer in 2024 That FIFA's Annual Report Omits, IRS Filing Shows

FIFA president Gianni Infantino was paid an additional sum of about $1.72 million in 2024 by the company that organized the 2026 World Cup. FIFA's annual report for that year does not list it.

The payment appears on the IRS Form 990 filed by FWC2026, the U.S.-based nonprofit FIFA set up to run the tournament. The Times of London first reported the filing on Tuesday, Oct. 13. ESPN also obtained the IRS and FIFA documents.

What the tax return shows

The return lists $1,759,718 in total compensation to Infantino from FWC2026 for 2024. The Times put the figure at $1.76 million. ESPN reported $1.72 million.

The gap is the retirement line. The return itemizes $671,818 in salary, $426,346 in bonus and $626,229 in other reportable compensation. Those three add up to about $1.72 million. Add $35,325 in retirement and deferred compensation and the total reaches $1.76 million.

The same return lists $4,373,479 in compensation from FIFA. FIFA's annual report put his 2024 pay at 4.274 million Swiss francs, roughly $5.1 million. Reports differ on the exact dollar conversion, with some citing about $4.9 million.

Nobody disputes that the FWC2026 money sits on top of the FIFA figure.

No other top FIFA official appears to have been paid by both entities in the same way. FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom received nothing from FWC2026. Neither did Victor Montagliani, the CONCACAF president who chairs the FWC2026 board. The return shows one other dual payment: FWC2026's chief operating officer, Heimo Gallaun-Schirgi, a FIFA employee, got $720,497 from the organizing company and $240,166 from FIFA.

The rule at issue

Article 43, paragraph 13 of FIFA's statutes reads: "The individual compensation of the FIFA president, the members of the council and the FIFA secretary general shall be made public."

Miguel Maduro, a former chairman of FIFA's governance committee, told The Times that failing to disclose additional payments from companies linked to FIFA could breach the organization's rules.

FIFA's response

FIFA rejects that reading. A spokesperson said: "FIFA does not pay a second salary to the FIFA President and complies with all reporting requirements in relation to compensation. The FIFA President's annual compensation, as well as other contractual benefits, are decided by the independent Compensation Sub-Committee."

The statement continued: "FIFA strongly rejects any claims that it has failed to disclose any financial information and has violated FIFA's Statutes. FIFA accounts are independently audited, and all declarations are in line with tax regulations in Switzerland, the United States and elsewhere."

That is a real argument. FIFA's position is that FWC2026 is a separate legal entity, that its pay was properly reported to the IRS, and that the statute concerns FIFA's own compensation. The statement does not address the $1.72 million figure or what the money was for.

At issue is whether a payment to the FIFA president from an organization FIFA created to run FIFA's own tournament counts as the president's compensation under the statute. FIFA says no violation occurred. Maduro's view is the opposite. No investigation or charge has been announced.

Pressure ahead of the Council meeting

The report landed two days before a FIFA Council meeting in Zurich scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 15. It was the first gathering of the 37-member body since the uproar over Infantino's now-abandoned plan to sell a 20% stake in World Cup commercial profits to private investors.

The Daily Telegraph reported that Council members were seeking answers on the payment. It also reported that Debbie Hewitt, chair of the English FA and a FIFA vice-president, had pressed Infantino to release documents tied to the scrapped investment plan and other decisions.

FIFA's statement said the organization was "fully focused" on the meeting and on growing the game "following the most successful FIFA World Cup in history."

Infantino, 56, has led FIFA since 2016 and intends to stand for re-election next March. Aleksander Ceferin, a sharp critic of Infantino, has said he will seek a fourth term as UEFA president.

What is still unknown

The filing covers 2024 only. Infantino was not listed as a director or among FWC2026's top 13 compensated individuals on the 2023 return, according to the Times-based figures. Any FWC2026 pay for 2025 and 2026, the year before the tournament and the year it was staged, will not surface until those returns are filed, a year or more from now.

FIFA has so far offered no breakdown of how FWC2026 set Infantino's pay or who approved it. Whether the Council or the compensation sub-committee signed off on it, and whether it should have been disclosed alongside his FIFA salary, are the questions Infantino's critics will carry into the March election.