FIFA’s own rulebook contains a line written for exactly one person. Article 43, paragraph 13 says the individual compensation of the FIFA president shall be made public. According to reporting first published by The Times, a $1.76 million payment to Gianni Infantino in 2024 never appeared in the annual report meant to carry it.

The money came from FWC2026 US Inc, the US entity FIFA set up to run the 2026 World Cup. It was recorded in a tax return filed with the US Internal Revenue Service, with $626,229 of the total booked as “other reportable compensation” on top of base pay and bonus. Infantino’s declared FIFA salary for 2024 was 4.27 million Swiss francs, about $4.86 million. The $1.76 million sat beside it, outside the public filing.

Miguel Maduro, the former chairman of FIFA’s governance committee, told The Times the arrangement crossed a line.

“It is a clear contravention of the rules if he is paid other amounts by companies related to FIFA and it is not made public,” Maduro said.

Read also: Haaland makes Man Utd the butt of the joke: “What are they called?”

FIFA, asked to respond, pushed back.

“FIFA fully complies with all reporting requirements and strongly rejects any suggestion there has been a violation of FIFA’s Statutes,” a spokesperson told ESPN.

The source who shared the US filings with The Times said similar sums, or possibly more, were paid in 2025 and 2026. Reporting has linked the extra income to the waterfront Miami mansion Infantino rented in the Sunset Islands, a property bought by former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt for $27 million in 2023.

A re-election fight already under way

The timing lands squarely on Infantino’s political horizon. He is standing for a fourth term at the 77th FIFA Congress in Rabat, Morocco, on 18 March 2027, with UEFA openly searching for a candidate to run against him.

Read also: Alonso confirms week-by-week assessment for Reece James after knee scare

European football’s governing body has set out the profile it wants in a rival: a “respected and unifying figure, deeply rooted in football,” potentially from outside Europe to help gather votes across FIFA’s 211 member associations. Those federations each cast one ballot. Confederations can lobby and recommend, but they do not deliver their members’ votes as a bloc.

Infantino’s declared pay has been climbing. FIFA’s 2025 compensation report, published in March 2026, set his total at $6 million, with the bonus up 33 per cent after the inaugural Club World Cup in the United States.

That is the figure the ledger shows. The payments reported this week sit outside it. The ballot in Rabat is in five months.

Read also: Ferran Torres on facing his former team: “It’s going to be an exciting match