Infantino to be paid less than his No 2 in new-look FIFA

World Today

Swiss Gianni Infantino, new FIFA President, smiles during the press conference after being elected, at the Extraordinary FIFA Congress 2016 on Friday, Feb. 26, 2016. (Ennio Leanza/Keystone via AP)

After 17 years under the all-powerful Sepp Blatter, a sign of the FIFA president’s newly diminished powers will come when Gianni Infantino’s salary is revealed.

CCTV’s Dan Williams reports on the latest developments at FIFA:

The head of world soccer will no longer be the best-paid person in the governing body under reforms instigated to curb the president’s powers after corruption scandals that threatened FIFA’s existence.

Instead, Infantino’s No. 2 — a chief executive in an overhauled FIFA structure — will now receive a bigger pay packet than the president, a person with knowledge of the situation said Saturday.

A three-man remuneration committee decided that neither Infantino nor his CEO should earn more than Blatter, who was reported to have earned around $6 million — a figure not denied by FIFA and which is likely to have fluctuated based on bonuses.

Infantino, the outgoing UEFA general secretary, plans to appoint a non-European CEO. As powers are separated across the executive, the Swiss-Italian will have no influence over commercial contracts so will not receive bonuses, the person said.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because FIFA salaries are not currently allowed to be discussed publicly. That is due to change next month when FIFA plans to reveal salaries for the first time in its annual financial report as part of reforms approved on Friday hours before Infantino’s unexpected election win.

Blatter’s final day on the FIFA payroll was on Friday, having joined in 1975 and spent 17 years as president until being found guilty in December of unethical financial conduct by the organization’s ethics judge.

Infantino, almost 35 years Blatter’s junior at 45, is seen as a cleaner new face of FIFA as it tries to protect its victim status in American criminal investigations into soccer bribery and racketeering.

As a member of the reform committee established after the first wave of arrests of FIFA executives last May, Infantino has been at the heart of shaping the governing body’s new appearance.

“Infantino starts with much more trust and expectation levels than any of the other candidates might have had,” Irish Football Association chief executive Patrick Nelson said.

Story by the Associated Press


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