The FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, could have received a salary of $30m plus bonuses under a proposed commercial venture that would have sold part of the World Cup’s media rights, according to The Times.
FIFA confirmed earlier this week that Infantino had planned to establish a subsidiary valued at more than €17bn. The company, which was to be called FIFA Forward Enterprise, would have been responsible for selling 20% of the rights to the World Cup.
That arrangement could have generated about €3.65bn in revenue.
All 211 FIFA member associations were given the opportunity to vote on the proposal. However, countries that supported it were reportedly promised €35m, while those that opposed it would have received €8.7m.
The plan has since been abandoned, and Infantino has already offered explanations for the decision. Throughout the campaign to promote the project, he had insisted that he would not personally benefit from it.
Those assurances now appear to be under question. Time, the respected media organisation, reports that Infantino could have earned a salary of $30m, in addition to bonuses. He already receives about $3m in bonuses from FIFA.
The proposed payment would have represented a dramatic increase on his existing remuneration and has intensified scrutiny of the FIFA president, even though FIFA Forward Enterprise will not go ahead.
Earlier in the day, UEFA called on its 55 member associations to withdraw their support for Infantino. The European governing body’s position adds to growing opposition among football authorities to both the proposal and the FIFA president.
CONCACAF and the AFC, the confederations representing football in North America and Asia respectively, have also opposed the project and Infantino.
The Times further reports that FIFA’s commercial sponsors are concerned by the latest revelations. The reaction from sponsors adds another layer of pressure to a controversy that has already prompted resistance from several of the sport’s regional governing bodies.
The proposed subsidiary was presented as a major financial operation built around FIFA’s most valuable property, with the sale of a fifth of the World Cup rights potentially bringing in billions of euros. But the scale of the reported personal package for Infantino has drawn particular attention because of his previous claims that he would not make any personal profit from the venture.
Although the project has been dropped, the debate over Infantino’s role and the financial arrangements connected to FIFA remains unresolved. The reports of the proposed salary, the different financial promises made to members depending on how they voted, and the concerns expressed by UEFA, CONCACAF, AFC and FIFA’s sponsors have all increased pressure on the organisation’s president.
