Massive Carbon Footprint Due to Football. Infantino Goes Wild at World Cup, Faces Harsh Criticism

Mexico City, Guadalajara, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Seattle, Kansas City, Houston – FIFA's Italian-Swiss chief, Gianni Infantino, fires up his private jet multiple times a day, appearing at ten different football stadiums within a mere seven days.

"His insatiable use of the Qatar Airways private jet is nothing new; in September 2024, investigative portal Josimar revealed he had flown 600,000 kilometers with this aircraft in the preceding three years," reported AFP.

The expanded World Cup in the USA, Canada, and Mexico, featuring 48 teams and a jump from 64 to 104 matches, has done little to curb the global football chief's appetite for air travel. On the contrary, it has only intensified his airborne footballing escapades.

"Just one hour in this jet releases approximately as many emissions as the average person emits in an entire year," stated Greenly, a French company specializing in carbon footprint assessment.

Should Infantino continue his frenetic flying schedule, attending nearly two matches daily until the end of the World Cup's round of 16, and then all subsequent knockout stage games, Greenly estimates his private jet alone will accumulate between 300 and 500 tons of CO2 during the tournament. This, they claim, is equivalent to the annual carbon footprint of roughly 35 to 55 French citizens.

FIFA defends its president's travel, stating that officials choose between commercial and private flights "based on what is most efficient and cost-effective," and that in all cases, the organization covers travel expenses. David Gogishvili, a geographer at the University of Lausanne, told AFP that FIFA has created a sustainability paradox.

"By reusing existing, yet geographically dispersed, NFL stadiums across the continent, FIFA has created a model structurally dependent on high-emission air travel. When leadership sets a precedent by literally hopping between matches in a private jet, it perfectly reflects a broader systemic problematic approach," Gogishvili emphasized.

The way FIFA has organized this World Cup normalizes hypermobility while shifting the costs of transportation and the carbon burden onto host regions and fans.

John Hocevar, Oceans Campaign Director at Greenpeace USA, is equally blunt regarding Infantino's "fly-bys" at World Cup host cities. "FIFA executives flying daily in highly polluting private jets doesn't exactly send the message that FIFA understands the cause or its responsibility to be part of the climate change solution," Hocevar posted on Instagram.