The reports

The Times reported on Monday, 12 October 2026, that Gianni Infantino received an extra payment in 2024 from FWC2026 US Inc., the US-based organisation FIFA set up to manage and run the 2026 World Cup. Reuters, citing FIFA and IRS documents obtained by ESPN, put the amount at $1.72 million and said it was paid on top of Infantino's 2024 salary and benefits from FIFA, which amounted to about $4.9 million. The Times figure, as reported by Adnkronos and N-tv, is $1.76 million, and the paper said Infantino may have received larger extra payments in 2025 and 2026. According to the reports, the extra payment was not shown in FIFA's annual report, which N-tv says lists 4.274 million Swiss francs for Infantino's 2024 pay.

FIFA's response

FIFA rejected the reports on Tuesday, 13 October, and a spokesperson told ESPN that the organisation 'strongly rejects any suggestion there has been a violation' of its statutes. The statement said FIFA does not pay a second salary to its president and complies with all reporting requirements on compensation.

FIFA accounts are independently audited, and all declarations are in line with tax regulations in Switzerland, the United States and elsewhere.

FIFA also said the annual compensation and other contractual benefits of the president are decided by the independent Compensation Sub-Committee. Adnkronos reports that FIFA did not give explanations in response to questions from The Times, while a representative said the pay and benefits are set by the relevant bodies and reported to US authorities as the law requires. FIFA's statutes, quoted by Reuters, state that the individual compensation of the FIFA President 'shall be made public'.

Trump Tower office

The New York Times, cited by The Independent, reported that FIFA signed a lease of more than seven years on a suite in Trump Tower in New York about a year before this summer's World Cup, at a cost of $4 million. Sources told the Times that the nearly 5,000-square-foot space is mostly empty, that most of FIFA's American employees work from two offices in Miami, and that there are no current plans to staff the Trump Tower location. FIFA told the newspaper that the lease 'complies with all local laws' and 'was signed in accordance with FIFA's standard internal process', adding that the space is mostly used for special events and during the United Nations General Assembly. Two sources told the Times that Infantino led the decision to open the office, and the White House declined to comment on the report.

Miguel Maduro, a former governance head at FIFA, told the Times that the lease may be a conflict of interest.

This deal with the Trump Organization raises a clear conflict of interest in the light of FIFA's interests in the U.S. World Cup or its partnership with President Trump's Board of Peace.

Alex Phillips, a former FIFA official, called the new office 'a completely unnecessary level of pandering'. The Independent notes that Infantino attended Trump's 2025 inauguration and later that year presented the president with the FIFA Peace Prize.

Pressure before Thursday's council meeting

N-tv reports that UEFA and the German football federation DFB want Infantino's term to end. The FIFA Council meets in Zurich on Thursday, 15 October 2026, where Infantino faces critics who sit on the council through their UEFA roles. N-tv says Infantino still has enough support from Africa, Asia, South America and Oceania to hold his position for now. Reuters recalls that earlier this year he came under fire over a since-aborted plan to sell a 20% stake in the World Cup to private investors, and Adnkronos reports that the window for presidential candidacies closes on 18 November.