Fifa president Gianni Infantino has clocked up 27 flights on a private jet during the first two weeks of the World Cup, attending 24 matches across North America in a carbon footprint roughly equivalent to 78 people over a year.
The revelation comes from BBC Verify and BBC Sport, which tracked a Gulfstream G650ER private jet linked to Infantino and Fifa as he criss-crossed the three host nations – the US, Canada and Mexico – where the tournament is spread across 16 cities with an expanded group stage.
“Infantino flew 27 times on a private jet in two weeks, attending 24 matches with carbon cost of 78 people per year.”
Infantino has frequently attended two games a day, sometimes taking three separate flights. On 15 June, he flew more than 2,700 miles from Miami to Seattle to watch Belgium play Egypt, then travelled about 960 miles south to Los Angeles for Iran v New Zealand that evening. Three days later, on 26 June, the jet took off from Miami, stopped briefly in Dallas, continued to Seattle for Egypt v Iran, then flew another 2,700 miles back to Miami, landing the following morning.
The longest single flight was 2,800 miles from Vancouver to Miami on 13 June, after Infantino watched Australia play Turkey. The shortest was 92 miles from Philadelphia to Teterboro Airport in New Jersey on 22 June – Infantino did not attend a match there but was interviewed at the Fox News studio in New York the next morning, before flying on to Boston and Toronto.
In Fifa's 2026 World Cup sustainability and human rights strategy, Infantino wrote: "Whether we speak about climate, human rights, diseases or disabilities, we are committed to play our part." The BBC asked Fifa to confirm the aircraft's use, but the organisation did not respond.
Plane-tracking data matched each of the jet's destinations to published photographs of Infantino at stadiums in the same cities on the same dates. Over the fortnight, the jet has travelled at least 31,144 miles – a distance that carries a climate impact equivalent to 78 average individuals over an entire year.
Infantino watched his 24th and final group-stage match in Miami on 27 June, where Portugal played Colombia. As the World Cup moves into the knockout rounds, the question of how the Fifa president will continue to balance globe-trotting attendance with the organisation's stated commitment to sustainability remains unanswered.