For months, Gianni Infantino insisted he had nothing personal to gain from his plan to sell off a slice of the World Cup. According to an investigation by The Times, cited by ONE, that claim does not hold up: the scheme the FIFA president devised would have paid him a salary of more than €30 million a year, plus bonuses — roughly ten times the €3 million he currently earns.
The plan centred on a new FIFA subsidiary called FIFA Forward Enterprise, through which Infantino proposed selling 20 percent of the World Cup's broadcasting and marketing rights to outside investors. FIFA projected the sale would raise around €3.65 billion for the organisation.
The Times reported that once his presidential term ends, Infantino was positioned to step into a commissioner or chief-executive role at the new entity, with an annual reward reported elsewhere at roughly £47 million — a payday that would have dwarfed his existing compensation package.
To win support, Infantino built financial incentives directly into the vote. All 211 FIFA member associations were entitled to vote on the proposal, with those backing it promised roughly $35 million each in development funding, while associations that opposed the plan were offered a far smaller sum, reported at around $9 million.
The scheme triggered a fierce backlash. UEFA and CONCACAF led opposition among the confederations, and UEFA's 55 member nations agreed last Thursday to consider boycotting the World Cup and other FIFA competitions if the plan went ahead. UEFA described the process as a "shabby, back-room, opaque deal."
Facing that united front, Infantino announced FIFA had scrapped the investment plan entirely. He has not indicated any intention to step down, but the episode has left several federations saying they no longer trust his leadership.
The revelations add to a difficult stretch for the FIFA president, whose close ties to political figures including Donald Trump and his push to expand FIFA competitions have already drawn scrutiny. The gap between Infantino's public assurances and the compensation structure now reported by The Times is likely to keep the pressure on him in the coming weeks.
FIFA has not detailed what, if anything, will replace the Forward Enterprise proposal as a source of additional World Cup revenue, leaving the question of how the federation intends to grow its commercial income unresolved for now.
