Washington immigration lawyer Abed Ayoub has filed a formal complaint with the US Internal Revenue Service alleging that a domestic worker at Infantino’s Miami home was paid through FIFA Americas Inc, a filing that could cost world football’s governing body its 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status in the United States.
The complaint, reported by Goal, argues that the employee “performed domestic work exclusively for FIFA president Gianni Infantino and his wife, Leena Infantino, at their Miami residence, while receiving compensation or benefits through a FIFA-affiliated entity.” Internal records cited by La Voce di New York list the employment under FIFA Americas Inc from August 2024 to October 2025, with the worker’s US authorisation later revoked by the Trump administration.
FIFA rejects any wrongdoing. “Matters related to the FIFA president’s personal and home life are private; however, for the avoidance of any doubt, the costs of any domestic staff are met by the FIFA president personally,” a FIFA spokesperson told Goal.
The subpoena threat from Congress
The IRS filing lands while the US House Judiciary Committee is already examining Infantino’s relationship with Donald Trump. Democrats take control of the chamber in January 2027, and Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the committee’s current ranking member, is expected to become its chairman. Raskin opened the inquiry in July and is weighing a formal subpoena of the FIFA president, according to La Voce di New York. A committee spokesperson has said the panel has not requested documents on the housekeeper matter but is watching developments closely.
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A central strand of the inquiry concerns the planned sale of commercial rights tied to the 2026 World Cup, a scheme aimed at raising roughly $20 billion, with Joshua Kushner’s investment firm Thrive Eternal among the interested parties. Infantino also presented Trump with a specially created FIFA Peace Prize before the 2026 World Cup, and the US president has publicly floated the FIFA chief as a candidate for UN secretary-general.
Blatter: ‘Maybe he should see a psychiatrist’
Blatter, the Swiss official Infantino succeeded as FIFA president, used an interview with Der Spiegel published on Wednesday to launch his sharpest public attack yet on his successor.
“He is a dictator. People in FIFA tell me that no one is allowed to ride in the elevator with him. He is ‘untouchable’,” Blatter told the German magazine, adding that “maybe Infantino should be sent to a psychiatric ward one day.”
Blatter was also scathing about the FIFA Peace Prize handed to Trump, calling it absurd to decorate a leader who then went on to wage war against Iran. FIFA has pushed back, insisting its president does use the lift at the governing body’s headquarters when other people are present.
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Wenger has until 18 November to declare
Arsène Wenger, FIFA’s chief of global football development since November 2019, has not ruled out a presidential run of his own. The 77-year-old Frenchman has until 18 November to submit his candidacy, backed by nominations from at least five member associations, ahead of the FIFA Congress in Rabat on 18 March 2027. UEFA signalled in August that it would help identify a credible challenger to Infantino, and Wenger is widely reported to fit that profile, although he has yet to confirm his intentions.
Infantino announced his reelection bid in April and remains the heavy favourite, with support bases across South America, Africa and Asia. FIFA’s Congress is made up of 211 member associations, and each casts its own ballot; confederations can lobby, but they do not control how their members vote.
Candidates have six days left to put their names forward.
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