Environmentalists up in arms: Infantino criticized for amassing nearly 60,000 miles in private jet during World Cup

Gianni Infantino didn’t win a whole lot of new fans of the course of the last month and a half. Whether it was the whole Folarin Balogun business, or letting Donald Trump touch the World Cup trophy, there seemed to be plenty of things that the president of FIFA did to rub people the wrong way.

FIFA President earning his sky miles

As if he didn’t create enough enemies over the last five weeks, now the environmentalists are on his case. Reports in the days following the World Cup claim that the president of soccer’s international governing body traveled enough “to have circled the planet almost 2 1/2 times,” according to Associated Press writer Rio Yamat.

This World Cup was the biggest in history. There were more teams, more groups, more knockout rounds, and more games than ever before, and Infantino seemed to be at all of them. His final match count was 44 following Sunday’s final between Spain and Argentina.

From June 11th, when the tournament kicked off with Mexico taking on South Africa from Mexico City to Sunday’s final, the FIFA president traveled 59,281 miles, according to Yamat and the total flight hours logged over the last month and some chance were 115 hours.

Qatar Airways sponsors Gianni’s trips

He averaged over 1,590 miles a day over the 39 day tournament. There were 104 matches in this new-look, amplified World Cup, and Infantino was in attendance for nearly half of them. There were 34 match days during the tournament, and he was present for a match on 31 of those days. Some of those accouting for two matches in one day.

This wouldn’t have been possible flying commercial and having to wait in security lines and for others passengers to board and disembark the plane. Infantino was reportedly cruising the skies in fashion, courtesy of a private G650 jet provided by Qatar Airways. The airline is a sponsor of the World Cup and the jet was apparently part of the deal.

The quickest flight that Infantino logged was a 28 minute trip from Seattle to Vancouver after the USA’s 4-1 loss to Belgium, a game that was marred by a decision he made to suspend the red card of Foalrin Balogun following a call from the White House and his buddy Donald Trump.

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