FIFA president Infantino received undisclosed $1.7M World Cup payment

NEW: FIFA president Gianni Infantino received an undisclosed $1.72 million payment from the 2026 World Cup entity on top of his declared 2024 salary, an IRS filing reveals, a potential breach of FIFA statutes.

Gianni Infantino pocketed 1.72 million dollars nobody was told about.

An IRS filing shows the FIFA president took that payment in 2024 from FWC2026, the American entity FIFA set up to run next summer's World Cup. That's on top of his declared salary of roughly 4.86 million dollars. Here he is, trophy in hand, the man who says football's books are clean.

The problem is FIFA's own rulebook. Article 43 says the president's individual compensation shall be made public. This wasn't in the 2024 annual report. FIFA told ESPN it fully complies with all reporting requirements and strongly rejects any suggestion otherwise. Pundits aren't buying the shrug, and you can hear why in this reaction.

So the man who built his presidency on cleaning up after the Blatter era now has his own transparency question, eight months before his World Cup kicks off on American soil, filed with the American taxman.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.