Gianni Infantino: 33% pay rise for FIFA boss who told women they must 'force change' amid calls for equal pay
In a previously undisclosed decision by a FIFA subcommittee, his base salary was raised to 2.6m Swiss francs following his re-election for a third term as president last year.
Saturday 16 March 2024 05:16, UK
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has secured a 33% pay rise to run world football which meant his salary exceeded £3.6m last year, Sky News has found.
The increase during the Women's World Cup year featured deep in financial documents approved by the FIFA Council on Thursday and sent to global football officials.
Mr Infantino's base salary was 1.95m Swiss francs (£1.7m) in 2022 with a bonus of 1.65m Swiss francs (£1.5m) - a total equating to about £3.2m.
In a previously undisclosed decision by the FIFA compensation subcommittee, Mr Infantino's base pay was raised to 2.6m Swiss francs (£2.3m) following his re-election for a third term as president last year.
The rise was applied during last year meaning he earned 2,463,710 Swiss francs (£2.2m) along with a bonus of 1,650,000 Swiss francs (£1.5m) - the same as the previous year.
That means he earned 4.1m Swiss francs (£3.6m) in total during the Women's World Cup year of 2023.
Three men sit on the committee that decides Mr Infantino's pay. It is chaired by retired Indian judge Mukul Mudgal, alongside FIFA's South American vice president Alejandro Dominguez, and Swiss accountancy veteran Bruno Chiomento.
Before the final in Sydney, Mr Infantino told women to "pick the right battles" as they fight for greater status in football and push for equal pay, placing the emphasis on them to "force the change".
FIFA's annual report shows it invested around £390m on the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand - including payments to players for the first time.
And Mr Infantino insists FIFA is working towards equal prize money for the men's and women's tournaments.
He will earn the full 2.6m Swiss francs annually - plus any annual bonus - for the rest of his term until 2027.
After being elected FIFA president in 2016, Mr Infantino agreed an annual base salary of 1.5 million Swiss francs (£1.3m).
He can now remain in power until 2031 after securing backing from the FIFA Council in 2022 to allow him to seek a fourth term beyond an envisaged 12-year term limit, by disregarding his first partial term that was completing the three years of banned predecessor Sepp Blatter's mandate.
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Mr Infantino is not earning pay from FIFA on the levels of Mr Blatter who earned a bonus alone of $12m (£9.4m) for the 2014 World Cup but only later disclosed by investigators amid less transparency during that era at the governing body.
Last year produced record revenue from the Women's World Cup with FIFA's overall annual earnings of $1.17bn (£0.9bn) representing a 53% rise from the 2019 Women's World Cup year.
FIFA is projecting revenue to soar to $11bn (£8.6bn) in the 2023-26 cycle ending with the expanded 48-team men's World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada - up from $7.6bn (£6bn) 2019-2022 covering the Qatar World Cup which featured 32 countries.