Infantino Got $1.7M Undisclosed World Cup Payment — SkimNews
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- Gianni Infantino received $1.72 million in 2024 from FWC2026, the US-based entity set up by FIFA to run the 2026 World Cup, on top of his regular FIFA salary of 4.274m CHF (~$4.86 million)
- The FWC2026 payment was not disclosed in FIFA's 2024 annual report, potentially violating Article 43, paragraph 13 of FIFA's statutes, which requires the president's individual compensation to be made public
- Former FIFA governance committee chairman Miguel Maduro told The Times the omission 'is a clear contravention of the rules' and that statutes 'impose an obligation of full transparency'; a FIFA spokesperson told ESPN that 'FIFA fully complies with all reporting requirements'
- The payment caps a year of controversy: Infantino's plan to sell a 20% World Cup stake to investors led by Joshua Kushner — brother of Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner — drew resignation demands from the heads of UEFA, Concacaf, and the Asian Football Confederation, with UEFA threatening a boycott
- Infantino also drew criticism after President Trump called him about US forward Folarin Balogun's red-card suspension; Balogun was given probation and played in a 4-1 round-of-16 loss to Belgium
- The FIFA Council is scheduled to meet this Thursday in Zurich
Why it matters: If Maduro's reading holds, Infantino faces a statute-violation finding landing directly before Thursday's FIFA Council meeting in Zurich — stacked with the prior resignation demands from UEFA, Concacaf, and the AFC over the Kushner-led investment deal and a Trump-intervention disciplinary episode, giving the council a live test of FIFA's stated transparency rules.
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