FIFA president Gianni Infantino has been very active at this World Cup. But his desire to attend as many matches as possible is making environmentalists uneasy. They are questioning his lack of concern for climate change.
Infantino has already used his private jet to travel to Mexico City, Guadalajara, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver, Seattle, Kansas City, and Houston. He has been in the stands 10 times in just seven days.
His frequent use of a Qatar Airways private jet is not new. In September 2024, the investigative outlet Josimar reported that he had traveled 600,000 kilometers (372,822 miles) over the last three years.
The upcoming 2026 World Cup will be bigger, with 48 teams in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. This means the number of matches will increase from 64 to 104. This change highlights the impact of Infantino’s flying habits.
“Just one hour in this plane emits roughly what an average human being emits in an entire year,” said Greenly, a French company that assesses carbon footprints.
If Infantino travels between two cities a day until the end of the round of 16 and attends the last eight matches, Greenly estimates he could emit between 300 to 500 tons of CO2 from his plane alone during the tournament.
That is equal to the annual carbon footprint of around 35 to 55 French people.
FIFA defends Infantino’s travel choices. They say their executives choose between commercial and private flights based on what is most efficient and cost-effective. FIFA also states they cover travel costs in all cases.
David Gogishvili, a geographer from the University of Lausanne, told AFP that FIFA has created a “sustainability paradox.”
“By reusing existing but geographically dispersed NFL stadiums across a continent, FIFA has created a model that is structurally dependent on high-emission air travel,” he explained.
He added, “When leadership sets a precedent by hopping between matches via private jet, it perfectly reflects the broader systemic issue.”
The way FIFA has organized this World Cup “normalizes hyper-mobility while simultaneously shifting transport costs and carbon burdens onto the host regions and fans.”
John Hocevar, Oceans Campaign Director for Greenpeace USA, is also critical of Infantino’s travels.
“Having executives take daily flights on highly polluting private jets doesn’t exactly send the message that FIFA recognizes either the cause or its responsibility to be part of the solution to climate change,” he posted on Instagram.
Next year, this issue will come up again at the Women’s World Cup in Brazil. FIFA chose Brazil in 2024 over a bid that would have been fully accessible by train between Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany.
The situation will become even more extreme with the men’s World Cup in 2030. It will be hosted by Morocco, Portugal, and Spain, with three matches in South America. The possibility of expanding to 64 teams is still not settled.
The 2026 tournament is attracting celebrities and wealthy spectators. The use of private jets during a World Cup is not just a FIFA issue, which adds to the event’s overall carbon footprint.
The 2022 World Cup saw 1,846 private jets in Qatar, according to the British journal Nature. This number is higher than the Super Bowl, the Cannes Film Festival, the World Economic Forum in Davos, and COP28 combined.
“All of the emissions associated with a World Cup are… luxury rather than subsistence emissions, as the tournament doesn’t need to happen at all,” said American academic Tim Walters during a Play the Game debate last year.
“In this context, the lavish activity of the ultra-wealthy is particularly obscene and dispiriting.
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