FIFA President Infantino Faces Scrutiny Over Private Jets, Qatar Expenses, Trump Ties and Secret Commercial Rights Deal
Why It MattersThe allegations underscore how sports-governance controversies increasingly intersect with private aviation records, luxury travel and undisclosed commercial dealings involving political figures.
Gianni Infantino, elected FIFA president in February 2016 on a reform platform and twice reelected unopposed since, is facing renewed scrutiny over conduct spanning his decade in office, including private jet use linked to oligarchs, personal expenses funded by Qatar, a six-figure settlement involving a former lover, and a secret plan to sell part of the World Cup's commercial rights to private investors.
FIFA's ethics committee investigated Infantino within months of his election and found he had accepted seats on private jets provided by Vladimir Putin's Russian government and by Qatar's emir, both hosts of World Cups awarded amid corruption allegations. The inquiry identified at least nine trips on private aircraft, some belonging to Russian oligarchs, and seven possible breaches of FIFA's ethics code. Personal purchases charged to FIFA funds included six pairs of football boots costing a combined £942 and a tuxedo worth £1,060.
Before the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Infantino relocated much of his life to Doha, with Qatar covering a significant portion of his expenses. He also held a series of secret, unrecorded meetings with Michael Lauber, then Switzerland's attorney general overseeing FIFA corruption investigations; Lauber was later found to have lied about those meetings and resigned. A Swiss criminal investigation into Infantino ran for three years before closing in October 2023 for lack of evidence.
FIFA rented office space in Trump Tower in New York in mid-2025 as part of World Cup preparations, paying approximately $15,000 per day directly to a business owned by U.S. President Donald Trump, with Eric Trump attending the opening ceremony. In early July, Representative Jamie Raskin, the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Infantino announcing a congressional investigation into possible corruption and quid pro quo relations between FIFA and the Trump administration, also referencing the Justice Department's 2015 prosecution of more than two dozen FIFA officials over bribes exceeding $200 million; the Trump administration later dropped a related case against sports marketing group Full Play, a decision Raskin called inexplicable.
The most recent World Cup generated a record $15 billion for FIFA, about $4 billion above projections. Infantino subsequently spent roughly a year secretly negotiating a plan to sell 20% of the World Cup's future commercial revenues to U.S. private equity funds and politically connected investors, including Thrive Capital, owned by Joshua Kushner, without a public tender; the plan was later abandoned. UEFA, where Infantino built his career, is preparing legal action against him in Switzerland centered on criminal mismanagement, former UEFA president Michel Platini has called on him to resign, and FIFA has hired marketing agency Ten Toes Media for £2.3 million, with one goal being to protect Infantino's image.
