FIFA: Infantino in fresh trouble amid looming Arsene Wenger opposition

FIFA could lose its US tax exemption after a formal whistleblower complaint was filed to the Internal Revenue Service regarding the employment of Gianni Infantino’s Miami housekeeper.

According to The Guardian, Washington-based immigration lawyer Abed Ayoub submitted the claim, which argues that senior FIFA leadership abused the organisation’s tax-exemption status and asks the IRS to investigate whether domestic staff were compensated through corporate channels.

The allegations represent a further threat to Infantino’s candidacy, mounting in the aftermath of the dead-on-arrival FIFA Forward Enterprise project. 

He faces political opposition from UEFA ahead of the March 18, 2027 presidential election in Rabat, though he is still widely expected to secure another term.

FIFA operates in the United States under a 501(c)(4) designation, a category The Guardian describes as being for organisations created to promote community welfare for charitable, educational or recreational purposes.

The filed complaint, supported by internal documents, alleges that an individual performed domestic work exclusively for the FIFA president and his wife, Leena Infantino, at their Miami residence. An earlier report from the New York Post identified his housekeeper as Yajarlin del Socorro Fernandez, a 33-year-old Nicaraguan national.

Despite working as a personal housekeeper, Fernandez was reportedly employed full-time by FIFA (Americas), Inc. between August 2024 and October 2025, being paid through the affiliated entity, according to a leaked FIFA letter.

If the IRS investigates and validates the claims, any abuse of funds could result in the revocation of FIFA’s tax-exempt status, exposing the governing body to serious financial liabilities in its most crucial commercial market.

FIFA have rejected the accusations, insisting there is a “concerted and ongoing effort by some to undermine FIFA and its president.”

A spokesperson for the governing body said that matters concerning the president’s home life are private but stated that the costs of any domestic staff are met by Infantino personally.

The IRS complaint compounds a growing scandal surrounding the housekeeper, following New York Post reports, citing anonymous sources, that Infantino enlisted Carlos Cordeiro, a former US Soccer president, Infantino’s former senior adviser and an adviser to the White House’s World Cup task force, to leverage government contacts to secure a new work permit for the housekeeper. 

She received a new permit in January 2026 after her work authorisation was initially revoked in 2025. No public finding has established that anything improper occurred.

The escalating controversy arrives at a vulnerable moment for Infantino, who has led the organisation since taking over from Sepp Blatter in 2016.

European governing body UEFA have opposed his commercial strategies and, together with CONCACAF and the AFC, forced the abandonment of the FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal, a plan that would have seen an investment group linked to Joshua Kushner take a 20 per cent minority stake in World Cup commercial rights. UEFA subsequently said it had lost confidence in Infantino.

That fractured relationship has fuelled speculation of a leadership challenge at the March 2027 election, with Arsène Wenger, backed by UEFA, reportedly weighing a bid for the presidency. 

Wenger has not yet decided, and the deadline to declare a candidacy is November 18. Infantino, who announced his reelection bid in April, is still widely expected to secure another term on the back of support from South America, Africa and Asia.

Wenger, who captured three Premier League titles, including the historic 2003/04 unbeaten campaign during his 22-year managerial reign at Arsenal, serves as FIFA’s chief of global football development.

He distanced himself from Infantino’s commercial plans when the FFE project collapsed in July, setting the stage for a political battle as the Swiss executive faces scrutiny in Washington, where Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee say they are looking closely at the developments.