Key facts
- FIFA paid 100% of Infantino's US tax bill, about $4 million, according to the report.
- The benefit was approved in Bangkok in May 2024 by the committee that sets senior FIFA pay.
- The tax benefit was never disclosed in filings, the report said, despite a bylaw requiring top pay to be public.
- FIFA said all internal regulations, processes and applicable laws were followed and tax requirements met.
- Infantino earns about $6 million a year, according to FIFA's annual report.
FIFA paid about $4 million toward the US tax bill of its president, Gianni Infantino, after he moved from Switzerland to Miami ahead of the 2026 World Cup, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times and two people familiar with the benefit.
The arrangement was approved at a meeting of the three-person committee that sets pay for FIFA's most senior officials in Bangkok in May 2024. Bruno Chiomento, a Swiss accountant and former chair of Ernst & Young's Swiss unit, raised the matter, arguing that FIFA should offset the higher US income taxes Infantino would face through 2026, as it had agreed to do for about a dozen staff members who moved to the United States to prepare for the World Cup. The other members agreed without much further discussion, the report said. FIFA ultimately paid 100% of Infantino's tax bill to the US government.
FIFA introduced reforms a decade ago after an international corruption scandal, including a bylaw requiring that top leadership compensation be made public. The tax benefit was never disclosed in filings, to the consternation of several senior officials, the report said. Infantino earns about $6 million a year, according to FIFA's annual report.
"All FIFA's internal regulations and processes, and all applicable laws, have been followed," FIFA said in a statement. "FIFA ensures all reporting and taxation requirements are met." The organization declined to give further detail on the tax arrangement but said payments to senior management were independently audited.
The report said Chiomento received advice from outside experts including David Zollinger, Infantino's personal lawyer, and that FIFA's administrative staff had concerns about a conflict of interest in hiring Zollinger. FIFA declined to comment on why figures connected to Infantino advised on his personal tax affairs. Chiomento did not respond to requests for comment, and Zollinger declined to comment, citing attorney-client privilege.
Infantino is standing for reelection in March. The report said he faces a crisis after news in July that he held secret talks to sell a share of World Cup rights to a company owned by the brother of Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law.