Gianni Infantino is planning to attend two World Cup games each day where possible for the rest of the tournament despite the huge distances involved.
The FIFA president has access to a private jet provided by Qatar Airways as a value-in-kind element of its sponsorship deal with the world governing body, which will come in useful as Infantino journeys across the United States, Canada and Mexico.
After attending the opening game of the tournament in Mexico City last Thursday, Infantino immediately flew on to Guadalajara for South Korea’s victory against Czechia. The next day he was in Los Angeles for the USA’s 4-1 win against Paraguay, before taking in games in San Francisco and Vancouver on Saturday between Qatar and Switzerland and Australia and Turkey respectively.
Infantino did not attend a game on Sunday because he was in Miami to host a FIFA summit attended by representatives of their 211 member associations before returning to LA that evening to attend Iran’s first game of the tournament against New Zealand.
FIFA sources have confirmed that Infantino will attempt to attend two matches each day as often as possible despite the gruelling schedule. The 56-year-old was able to go to almost all 64 games at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar because the longest distance between stadiums was 46 miles.
The current World Cup finals tournament spans four time zones and three countries, with the 16 stadiums up to 2,800 miles apart.
Infantino will travel far further than anyone else involved in the tournament. Of the teams, Bosnia and Herzegovina face the most arduous schedule during the group stage, travelling 3,144 miles from Toronto to Los Angeles to Seattle, as well as returning between games to their training camp in Salt Lake City.
As a result of the huge distances the New Weather Institute has described this World Cup as “the most polluting event ever”, estimating that it will generate about 9 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. Air travel is responsible for about 7.7 million tons of that carbon estimate, more than four times that of the average for World Cups held from 2010 to 2022.
