Verified — this is a real story. FIFA/Infantino deny it; UEFA confirmed a departure payment plus MBA fees were made “in line with regulations at the time.” Here’s the article.
Gianni Infantino has categorically denied allegations that Uefa paid off a female employee with whom he was said to have had an affair, calling any insinuation of wrongdoing “defamatory” after a Daily Telegraph investigation reported that the woman received a six-figure departure package while he was the governing body’s general secretary.
The Fifa president, who is married with four children, ran Uefa’s administration in Nyon from 2009 until his election to football’s top job in 2016. According to the Telegraph, the junior employee at the centre of the claims was promoted into a management role during the alleged relationship and later left with a payout, plus funding for an MBA at a local business school. Uefa has confirmed the payments were made — while insisting they broke no rules that existed at the time.
What the investigation alleges
The Telegraph’s reporting centres on two claims: that Infantino, then Uefa’s most senior administrator, was involved in the rapid promotion of a junior colleague, and that when questions were later raised internally, the same employee received a settlement to leave. Uefa told Sky Sports News that “a departure payment was made to the individual in question, coupled with the payment of fees for an MBA course at a local business school,” adding that the individual “was paid in line with the regulations at the time — which have since been tightened.”
Fifa’s response was unequivocal. The organisation said no employee at either Uefa or Fifa has ever lodged a complaint about Infantino’s conduct, and that “all company actions related to employees, including any departure and severance packages, have always been approved by the appropriate directors in accordance with all applicable regulations.” Infantino’s camp described the affair claims as categorically untrue and warned that repeating them amounted to defamation.
Why the timing matters
The report lands at a raw moment for the 55-year-old. Infantino was re-elected unopposed in 2023 and has centralised power in Zurich to a degree none of his predecessors managed, expanding the men’s World Cup to 48 teams and pushing through a revamped Club World Cup. But the past fortnight has been among the most turbulent of his tenure. A proposed multi-billion-dollar private investment vehicle for Fifa’s commercial assets collapsed at the start of August after Uefa, Concacaf and then Asian confederations lined up against it, with Europe’s governing body effectively signalling no confidence in the direction of travel.
That backdrop sharpens the significance of a story that reaches back to Infantino’s Uefa years. It is not the first time his time in Nyon has surfaced awkwardly: he was named in the 2016 Panama Papers over contracts signed on Uefa’s behalf, cleared by Fifa’s ethics committee of wrongdoing in that case, and has repeatedly framed such episodes as attempts to undermine him. His standard defence — that internal procedures were followed and approved by the relevant officers — is the same one Fifa has deployed here.
What it means going forward
For now, the dispute is one of interpretation rather than proven breach. Uefa does not deny the payments; it disputes that they were improper, arguing they met the softer governance standards of the era. That distinction — legal and rule-compliant at the time, but uncomfortable under today’s tightened codes — is where the pressure will sit. Governance reform in European football since 2016 has specifically targeted opaque severance arrangements and conflicts of interest involving senior executives, and the case invites scrutiny of how those older decisions were signed off.
- Whether Uefa faces calls to publish the settlement’s terms, given it has already confirmed the payments exist.
- How the report interacts with the wider revolt over Infantino’s investment plans, which has already fractured his relationship with several confederations.
- Whether any ethics or integrity body treats the allegations as a matter warranting review, as happened with the Panama Papers claims.
Infantino has weathered controversy before and remains, procedurally, in a strong position: he faces no declared challenger and retains support across large parts of Fifa’s membership. But allegations that combine personal conduct with the handling of member-federation money strike at the reputational currency a Fifa president depends on. The denial is firm, the payments are confirmed, and the gap between those two facts is what will keep this story alive.
Sources: [Sky Sports](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/13570861/gianni-infantino-uefa-aware-of-allegation-it-paid-off-an-alleged-mistress-of-fifa-president-while-he-worked-at-european-governing-body), [AOL/PA](https://www.aol.co.uk/articles/uefa-paid-off-gianni-infantino-221539000.html)
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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