Gianni Infantino denies affair allegation in £30k payment claim

FIFA President Gianni Infantino has denied allegations of an affair and financial payoff, calling them “categorically false,” after a British newspaper accused him of paying hush money to a former lover while he was head of European football’s governing body UEFA.

FIFA issued a statement on Saturday branding the claims part of a “concerted and ongoing effort” to weaken Infantino’s leadership. The statement came a day after *The Sun* newspaper reported that Infantino paid £30,000 to a woman in 2011 to cover up an alleged affair. Infantino, who has led FIFA since 2016, has dismissed the allegations as “fake news” and vowed to take legal action. The woman at the center of the claims has not spoken publicly, and *The Sun* did not name her.

The controversy arrives at a sensitive moment for world football. Infantino is pushing for major reforms, including a new FIFA Club World Cup and expanded World Cup formats. His leadership has been both praised for modernizing governance and criticized for centralizing power in FIFA’s Zurich headquarters. Critics argue that under Infantino, FIFA has become less transparent, with key decisions made behind closed doors. Transparency International has repeatedly flagged FIFA’s governance risks, including conflicts of interest and weak accountability.

Legal and political fallout is likely to follow. Infantino has hired top UK lawyers to pursue defamation claims. Meanwhile, FIFA’s ethics committee—which Infantino himself appointed—has been accused of being toothless by independent monitors. If the allegations gain traction, they could embolden reformers within football’s governing bodies to demand greater scrutiny. For now, Infantino remains in charge, but the pressure is building. The next FIFA Congress is in May, where member associations could push for new accountability measures—or simply avoid the issue altogether. Either way, the episode has exposed deep fissures in football’s power structure.