Infantino’s abandoned World Cup venture could have delivered €30m salary, The Times reports

Gianni Infantino could have received a salary of at least €30m, plus bonuses, under a proposed FIFA project involving the sale of part of the World Cup’s commercial rights, according to The Times.

The FIFA president’s proposed plan centred on FIFA Forward Enterprise, a company belonging to FIFA. The scheme would have involved selling 20% of the rights to the World Cup through the venture and was expected to generate about €3.65bn for the organisation.

However, the proposal attracted strong criticism and was eventually abandoned.

The reported financial arrangements have renewed scrutiny of Infantino’s claims that he would not personally become wealthy as a result of his work at FIFA. Those assurances have been questioned following the publication of new details about the salary he could have received under the proposed structure.

According to The Times, Infantino’s pay would have been at least €30m, with additional bonuses included in the arrangement. That figure would have been substantially higher than his usual salary of €3m as FIFA president.

The newspaper’s report concerns the plan linked to FIFA Forward Enterprise rather than Infantino’s standard remuneration from FIFA. The proposed enterprise was presented as a way of generating significant additional income by transferring a share of the World Cup rights to a separate FIFA-owned company.

Under the plan, 20% of those rights would have been sold, with the transaction forecast to bring in approximately €3.65bn. The proposed financial package for Infantino was connected to the project and would have represented a major increase on his normal FIFA salary.

The plan faced intense criticism before FIFA ultimately dropped it. The reports have since raised questions about the relationship between the proposed commercial structure and the personal compensation that could have been available to the FIFA president.

Infantino has repeatedly said he would not use his position to build personal wealth. The Times report, and what it describes as newly leaked information about his potential earnings, have placed those statements under fresh examination.

The reported salary would have been ten times his regular €3m pay, before any bonuses were taken into account. While the scheme did not proceed, the figures have brought renewed attention to the scale of the proposed World Cup rights deal and to the way senior FIFA officials could have been rewarded under the arrangement.

FIFA Forward Enterprise was ultimately not used to complete the planned sale. The proposal therefore remains an abandoned project, but the details reported about Infantino’s possible remuneration have continued to generate controversy.