FIFA allegedly paid $4 million in taxes for Infantino, according to NYT and Le Monde

FIFA allegedly covered nearly $4 million in taxes for president Gianni Infantino between 2024 and 2026, according to an investigation published jointly by the New York Times and Le Monde. This amount, converted to approximately €3.6 million, was allegedly paid under a tax equalization mechanism designed to “neither advantage nor disadvantage” FIFA officials present in the United States in the context of organizing the 2026 World Cup.

The problem: this scheme was supposed to apply to FIFA employees, not its elected officials. Infantino, as president, should therefore not have benefited from it. According to the two media outlets, the decision was nevertheless granted to him following a meeting of a restricted committee responsible for setting the compensation of senior FIFA officials — and was never formalized in official documents.

The matter also involves Bruno Chiomento, a Swiss lawyer heading FIFA’s independent governance, audit and compliance commission. Close to Infantino for around twenty years, he allegedly raised the issue at this meeting.

This revelation comes at a delicate moment for the Italian-Swiss executive, already weakened by criticism over his failed World Cup privatization project. Infantino will nonetheless seek a fourth term on March 18 at the FIFA Congress in Vancouver. He is currently the only declared candidate for his own succession.