By the time the group stage of the 2026 World Cup concluded, Gianni Infantino had been pictured in the stands at 24 of the 72 matches, a whirlwind of appearances that spanned three countries and required a private jet to cover at least 50,122 kilometres. Flight-tracking data analysed by the BBC and the Norwegian investigative outlet Josimar shows the aircraft, believed to be a Gulfstream G650ER, spent more than 66 hours in the air across 27 separate legs, sometimes three in a single day. The itinerary hopscotched from Mexico City to Guadalajara, Los Angeles, Santa Clara, Vancouver, Miami and Seattle, a distance exceeding the circumference of the equator.

That travel pattern has produced an estimated 516 tonnes of CO₂ equivalent, roughly the annual emissions of 78 people, according to the BBC analysis. Environmental experts quoted in the Arabic-language press described the use of a private jet as fundamentally at odds with FIFA’s stated sustainability goals. The federation had pledged before the tournament to cut its emissions by 50 per cent by 2030 and reach carbon neutrality by 2040, promoting public transport and existing stadiums. Yet a 2025 report by Scientists for Global Responsibility projected the tournament’s overall carbon footprint at 9 million tonnes, making it the most polluting World Cup in history. FIFA responded that its president travels constantly for official business, using commercial flights when possible and private jets when efficiency and economic viability require, but did not disclose passenger numbers or any carbon offsetting.

Viewed from Brussels, the controversy extends beyond the environment. Fifty members of the European Parliament have written to FIFA’s Ethics Committee urging an investigation into whether Infantino violated the governing body’s statutes on political neutrality. The complaint, first filed by the human rights NGO FairSquare, centres on Infantino’s decision to create a FIFA peace prize and immediately award it to Donald Trump in December 2025, without prior consultation of the FIFA Council. Irish MEP Barry Andrews said the move “discredits the football body and the entire tournament,” arguing that the ethics case offers FIFA an opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to neutrality, transparency and accountability.

A separate, widely circulated collage purporting to show Infantino simultaneously at two different matches on 25 June was debunked by Italian fact-checkers. The images were altered using Google’s Gemini AI, with one frame taken from Iran-New Zealand on 16 June and the other from Spain-Saudi Arabia on 21 June. The president was in fact attending only Curaçao-Ivory Coast in Philadelphia that evening, seated between the Ivorian football federation president and the prime minister of Curaçao.

As the tournament moves into the knockout rounds, the debate over Infantino’s travel and conduct is unlikely to fade. The World Cup, designed to unite, now carries the weight of a parallel narrative: whether the sport’s governing body can reconcile its global expansion with the environmental and ethical standards it publicly champions.