Gianni Infantino: Politicians, private jets and power – the life of a Fifa president

A cavalcade of blacked out Mercedes, flanked by police cars, rolled into the Fifa headquarters in Rabat, Morocco, earlier this week.

Infantino had summoned a select few members of the Fifa management board to discuss his plan to sell off 21% of the commercial and ticketing business to a private equity firm.

This is how the Swiss-Italian travels – in between flights on the Qatar Airways Executive jet which has been made available to him. The plane enabled him to take up to three flights a day, watching two games, throughout the 2026 World Cup.

That type of arrival does look presidential – only more like a president of a country than a sports body.

It enables him to travel the globe, visiting Fifa’s official offices like Rabat, where he was based over the past week as the Fifa Forward Enterprise controversy developed.

In his role Infantino is expected to visit the 211 member nations, to see the grassroots projects Fifa has funded.

Part of his remit is to unify football, which cannot be achieved from within the Fifa headquarters in Zurich.

It requires international travel to attend confederation meetings, and the global tournaments Fifa organises. Infantino needs to build relationships with officials and politicians.

In April, before the Fifa Congress in Vancouver, local authorities rejected a request for a level-four motorcade, usually reserved for heads of state or the Pope.

New Zealand police said they had declined a similar request during the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

Alongside the cavalcade of cars and the private charter flights comes a large salary, too, three times what he first earned when elected in 2016.

Infantino, who was paid about £1.3m 10 years ago, now takes home about £4m – a base salary of £2.2m plus a confirmed variable bonus payment of £1.8m.

His predecessor Sepp Blatter was paid a £2.6m package for his final year as Fifa president.

Infantino gets a ‘per diem’ too to cover expenses and living costs, worth £20,500 a year on top of his salary.

As the head of the most popular sport in the world, it should be expected that there is a wage to match.

Infantino would argue that by driving record revenues and funding for member associations, he has proven he is worth the salary.