Report: FIFA paid its officials $10 mln in 2017 despite reform pledge

Despite promises of reform, FIFA reportedly paid its ruling council nearly $10 million in 2017.

The New York Times newspaper quotes “three people with direct knowledge of the payments”, FIFA, a nonprofit organization, paid each of the elected representatives on its 37-member council $250,000 salaries, plus tens of thousands of dollars more in travel expenses, in 2017.

That level of compensation — for a council that is scheduled to meet only three times this year — far exceeds payments for similar work at some of the world’s largest for-profit companies. It also appears to contradict the pledges, made repeatedly by FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino, since his election in 2016, to restore the organization’s credibility by implementing fiscal discipline.

Infantino was elected in 2016 following a major scandal over corruption at FIFA.

The alleged salaries are expected to be confirmed when FIFA officially releases its latest financial report in March.