Politicians, private jets and power - the life of a Fifa president
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- Gianni Infantino flew to Cali for the inauguration of Colombia's new president Abelardo de la Espriella, accompanied by Conmebol president Alejandro Dominguez and greeted on the runway by Colombian federation chief Ramon Jesurun, a close ally.
- Infantino's salary has roughly tripled since 2016 — from about £1.3m to £4m, made up of a £2.2m base and £1.8m variable bonus — plus a £20,500 annual per diem; predecessor Sepp Blatter's final-year package was £2.6m.
- Infantino travels on a Qatar Airways Executive jet that allowed up to three flights a day during the 2026 World Cup, and arrives at sites like Fifa's Rabat HQ in a motorcade of blacked-out Mercedes — though authorities in Vancouver and New Zealand have rejected his level-four motorcade requests.
- Uefa's boycott threat still stands and will be tested at the Under-20 World Cup in Poland in 29 days; before the Forward Enterprise scandal, 111 of 211 member associations had already declared support for Infantino, enough to guarantee his re-election, but that picture is now uncertain.
- Donald Trump's alliance with Infantino included a joint Middle East tour in May 2025 that made Infantino two hours late to the Fifa Congress in Paraguay (prompting a Uefa walkout), the Fifa Peace Prize awarded weeks before US strikes on Venezuela and Iran, and Infantino's appearance at Trump's inaugural Board of Peace meeting.
- Folarin Balogun had his World Cup red card rescinded after Trump said he had "personally called" Infantino, and the private-equity firm behind the aborted 21% sale of Fifa's commercial and ticketing business was linked to the brother of Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.
- Infantino has held just two press conferences in four years — both before World Cups — and mostly appears in Fifa-produced interviews, after summoning select management board members to Rabat this week to discuss the Forward Enterprise plan.
Why it matters: The Forward Enterprise controversy has cracked what the article calls Infantino's previously "bulletproof" status. Uefa's chance to force a change hinges on whether the 111 federations outside Europe that had pledged support before the scandal will withdraw it when the vote comes, with the Under-20 World Cup in Poland in 29 days the first concrete test of the boycott threat.
