FIFA boss Gianni Infantino has been accused of “abuse of power” after the group booked VIP airport escorts in Miami for the soccer fats cat’s spouse and daughters, including one journey with their canine, according to sources and official data.
His spouse and daughters present up 125 occasions in Miami International Airport’s protocol logs since January 2024, data launched to The Post present. The logs maintain 95 data, many itemizing more than one member of the family.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino should not have sought VIP journey perks for his household, according to specialists quoted by The Post. Guerin Charles/ABACA/Shutterstock
On 63 of them, Gianni has no entry for these dates. His spouse, Leena Infantino, reveals up 46 occasions — practically twice as typically as her globe-trotting husband, who seems 24 occasions.
The Post has seen inner airport correspondence that reveals FIFA demanding the red-carpet remedy for his daughters Alessia, Sabrina and Dahlia for a journey to Doha “with their dogs.”
Airport spokesman Greg Chin confirmed FIFA made the requests. Infantino heads a nongovernmental group, and staffers were free, so “the service was granted,” Chin said.
That could spell an ethics headache for FIFA, two of Europe’s high sports activities governance specialists instructed The Post. Its code bars officers from utilizing their jobs “for private aims or gains.”
Antoine Duval of the T.M.C. Asser Institute in The Hague said it “could constitute an abuse of position” under that code — if Infantino requested FIFA to organize his household’s personal journey.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino, seen here at the White House with President Trump, was a common customer to the US in the run-up to the FIFA World Cup in America over the summer time. Getty Images
That would be “a misuse of FIFA’s resources for his own private purpose,” said Duval, a senior researcher in sports activities regulation.
By the fundamental guidelines of good governance, “this is an abuse of position, an abuse of power,” said Arnout Geeraert of Utrecht University in the Netherlands, who once chaired Belgian soccer’s integrity panel.
The Post has approached FIFA, the State Department, US Customs and Border Protection and its dad or mum company, the Department of Homeland Security, for remark.
The Swiss-Italian sports activities boss has spent more time in Miami forward of the World Cup, where FIFA has an workplace. The Infantino household reside at a celeb-packed apartment on Biscayne Boulevard where David Beckham once had a plush pad.
Gianni’s VIP go lined the entire clan, the official paperwork present.
Under the airport’s present rulebook, a protocol officer fast-tracks VIPs through check-in. The officer can ask for a particular safety lane and can line up early boarding.
Miami International Airport handles roughly 55 million passengers and more than 485,000 flights per yr, according to its web site. Skórzewiak – inventory.adobe.com
“Standard practice” is to stroll visitors proper “to the aircraft door.” If a gate agent balks, workers must maintain calm and keep away from “drawing unnecessary attention to the guest.”
On arrivals from overseas, an officer walks VIPs through the “Diplomatic Lane” at immigration. An electrical cart can zip them to the curb.
Chin insisted the escorts can’t skip any step of customs or safety screening. Every VIP request for a flight from overseas goes to US Customs and Border Protection for vetting, he said.
He did not say if the feds were instructed the FIFA boss wasn’t on the airplane.
Miami Airport’s rulebook lists 27 VIP slots, from Supreme Court justices to college board members. Presidents and Cabinet ministers can deliver their “traveling parties.”
The phrase “spouses” seems just once — next to chiefs of diplomatic missions.
Internal MIA data reviewed by The Post lay out in nice element how the Infantino household obtained VIP privileges usually reserved for senior diplomats. AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
Infantino suits the slot for NGO bosses. It says nothing about household, relations or pets qualifying.
Chin pointed to half of the rulebook that reveals anyone off the formal record gets a “case-by-case” evaluation. The protocol division’s director or a designee must approve every request.
The only check, he added, is the VIP record classes and whether enough staffers are free. The workplace handles more than 5,000 requests a yr, officers said.
A separate State Department escort program imposes tighter limits on its own VIP courtesies. Its guidelines permit escorts for a international Cabinet minister’s partner and children under 12 — but only when they fly with the minister.
“Other family members are not eligible,” its steerage says. The division’s protocol handbook provides that youngsters of a qualifying dignitary “flying independently are not eligible” for its VIP port courtesies.
When in city, the Infantino household typically stays at this swanky downtown Miami apartment where English soccer legend and ex-MLS star David Beckham not too long ago bought a penthouse for just under $25 million. Blazenka – inventory.adobe.com
One former White House official who managed federal VIP arrivals instructed The Post that the association is a gross misuse of authorities sources that would depart profession protocol officers “disgusted.”
“This sounds like a little bit of an abuse,” the senior supply said on the situation of anonymity. “These courtesies are offered as part of wider statecraft. It’s meant to be kept for higher honors.”
Josh Paul, a former diplomat and State Department director, added the perks “are not intended as gifts.”
But the airport says nothing stops it from serving households who fly alone. The VIP service runs on airport cash, not county property taxes, the county finances reveals.
The red-carpet remedy went beyond his spouse and children. Infantino’s sisters, Daniela and Mirella, snagged the perk twice during the World Cup. The logs tagged them “President’s Guest,” not household.
Gianni Infantino and his spouse Leena have spent more time in Miami since FIFA opened an workplace in the Florida metropolis. Getty Images for Global Champions Arabians Tour Miami Beach
The gravy practice hit high pace during the match. In 39 days, the Infantinos racked up 15 VIP data.
Gianni is on none of them. On July 9, two days before England performed Norway in a Miami quarterfinal, the logs tagged daughters Sabrina and Shania Serena “Executive Guest.”
Overall, Dahlia reveals up 29 occasions, Alessia 25, Sabrina 18 and Shania Serena seven. On 11 data, the daughters were logged with no entry for either dad or mum.
Yet neither professional expects FIFA to act. The Zurich-based physique could call the VIP escorts “standard protocol for security reasons,” Geeraert famous. He called the ethics committee “a notorious black box.”
Duval said “many” complaints against Infantino “were buried” by the panel’s investigators. He “would not bet on FIFA seriously investigating” Infantino “until he is a lame-duck.”
The panel’s independence “is hardly guaranteed,” Duval said. Its members are elected by the FIFA Congress — “whose majority is controlled by Infantino.”
At a firm, “shareholders would react to something like this,” Geeraert said. But FIFA solutions to soccer federations. Most, he said, would ask: “So what’s the problem here?”
The Post revealed on Tuesday that Infantino and his inside circle had labored their contacts inside the Trump administration to safe a uncommon work allow for his Nicaraguan housekeeper. NY Post Design
While Infantino’s standing as a international sports activities chief necessitates expedited airport safety and logistical support for his own journey, commonplace diplomatic pointers do not account for the perk’s broad extension.
There is no clear safety justification for the dozens of occasions the protocol was utilized by his unaccompanied relations and pets.
It’s the newest flap for the 56-year-old, who is operating for another four-year time period in March.
The embattled soccer boss stays locked in a bitter civil conflict with UEFA. Infantino has confronted fierce European backlash over his proposals for mega-buck match expansions and his clashes with the sport’s conventional energy brokers.
The Post revealed Monday that Infantino and his inside circle labored their contacts in the Trump administration to land a new work allow for his Nicaraguan maid after her earlier authorization had been revoked. FIFA issued a broad denial, but stopped brief of addressing the involvement of one of its high aides in the affair.
The scandal emerged just weeks after this newspaper reported that Infantino used FIFA money to rent a British public relations agency to push his re-election bid. The Zurich group denied that story, too, but a Post reporter then obtained a leaked e mail pitch that confirmed it was true.
Last month, ESPN reported he got an undisclosed $1.72 million in 2024 from FIFA’s U.S. World Cup nonprofit. That came on high of a pay package deal value about $4.9 million. FIFA said it “strongly rejects” the claims.
The day after the World Cup last in New Jersey, Miami’s protocol workplace logged Leena, Alessia, Dahlia, Sabrina and Shania Serena collectively. Gianni wasn’t on the record.
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