Gianni Infantino is set to face questions from Fifa council members about his role in the abandoned World Cup commercial deal, the Folarin Balogun matter and the decision to present Donald Trump with the first Fifa peace prize. The discussion is expected to be tense when the governing body meets at its headquarters on Thursday.
During the summer, the Fifa president repeatedly refused requests for an extraordinary council meeting following the disclosure of the Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposals. He will now meet his opponents in Zurich for the first time since the controversy emerged, with one participant suggesting the discussions could become “explosive”.
Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin, Concacaf president Victor Montagliani and Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman Bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa are expected to attend. All three have urged Infantino to step down and intend to renew their demands for an independent examination of Fifa’s governance.
After receiving letters from Ceferin, Montagliani and Salman last month, Infantino promised to arrange an external assessment of Fifa’s future governance. However, no further information has been provided, prompting doubts about whether the process will be genuinely independent.
Alongside questions concerning FFE, Balogun and the peace prize, all of which appeared on an agenda distributed by Fifa last month, Infantino may also be challenged over a report published this week. It claimed he received an additional payment of approximately £1.3m in 2024 beyond the £3.9m disclosed in Fifa’s financial statements.
Documents filed with the US Internal Revenue Service indicate that a Fifa subsidiary responsible for organizing last summer’s World Cup paid Infantino $1.76m. That amount did not appear in Fifa’s annual report, which listed his compensation as 4.27m Swiss francs (£3.88m).
Fifa’s statutes require the individual compensation received by its president to be publicly disclosed. The organization has denied that any rules were broken.
“Fifa does not provide its president with a second salary and meets every reporting obligation related to compensation,” the organization said. “The president’s yearly compensation and other contractual benefits are determined by the independent compensation subcommittee.
“Fifa firmly denies allegations that it withheld financial information or breached its statutes. Its accounts undergo independent audits, and every declaration complies with tax regulations in Switzerland, the United States and other relevant jurisdictions.”
Despite the disputes and open resistance from the European, Asian, North American, Central American and Caribbean confederations, Infantino remains on track to secure another term without opposition in March’s election.
Montagliani has declined requests to challenge Infantino, choosing instead to concentrate on winning another term as Concacaf president. Uefa has also failed to identify another candidate, despite informally approaching prominent football figures such as Arsène Wenger and Michele Kang, whose portfolio includes London City Lionesses.
Prospective candidates must confirm their intention to compete by 18 November. The vote is scheduled to take place during the Fifa congress in Rabat on 18 March.
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