FIFA president under fire for racking up 'insane' amount of air miles during World Cup
FIFA President Gianni Infantino attended Canada vs South Africa, the first knockout game of the World Cup, in Los Angeles on Sunday (June 29).
It marked Infantino's 25th game he'd attended in-person since the soccer tournament began over two weeks ago, with the FIFA president clocking up thousands of air miles.
As the World Cup is hosted across three nations (US, Canada and Mexico) for the first time ever, Infantino has had to travel a fair bit to attend the expanded group stage matches.
FIFA spoke of the importance of climate change in its 2026 World Cup sustainability and human rights strategy, as the president said: "Whether we speak about climate, human rights, diseases or disabilities, we are committed to play our part."
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But in a little more than two weeks, Infantino has taken a whopping 27 flights.
Prior to the round-of-32 kicking off on Sunday, the BBC published a report after they tracked a private jet linked to FIFA and its president.
The broadcaster claims that Infantino has attended two games a day several times during the opening weeks of the World Cup, while he's taken three separate flights on some other days.
The BBC states some of these flights have been between host cities hundreds of miles apart.
To be honest, World Cup fans tuning into all the matches will be well aware Infantino is racking up the air miles as he's appeared on the big screens at different games throughout a single day.
And it's safe to safe, many are not impressed with the FIFA president's regular flights.
"The amount of carbon footprint is insane," one person penned on Instagram.
A second added: "Hope he's paid all the obscene ridiculous ticket prices also," while a third remarked: "The biggest cause of climate change is rich people being idiots."
Others backed Infantino, as another social media user penned: "Let the man watch his games, he owns it."
Infantino has traveled more than 50,000 km on his private jet, which is the equivalent to the annual carbon footprint of 78 people.
The longest flight the FIFA president took was on June 13, when he boarded his private jet from Vancouver to Miami, which is 2,800 miles.
A FIFA representative told the BBC: "The Fifa president routinely travels, together with relevant officials, on business and tournament-related matters and strives to visit member associations of Fifa whenever he can.
"Sometimes travel is organised on commercial [including low-cost] airlines and sometimes it is on private charter, depending on which is more efficient and cost-effective under the circumstances."
UNILAD has reached out to FIFA for comment.
Callum Jones