Uefa Confirms Departure Payment Amid Infantino Allegations

Uefa has confirmed it paid a “departure payment” and covered MBA fees for a former female employee who is alleged to have been in a relationship with Gianni Infantino during his time as the organisation’s general secretary.

The payment, reported by the Daily Telegraph to be a six-figure sum, was made when the woman left Uefa. In its statement, European football’s governing body stressed the settlement complied with its rules at the time.

“We are aware of the allegations and can confirm a departure payment was made to the individual in question, coupled with the payment of fees for a MBA course at a local business school,” a Uefa spokesperson said. “The payment was in line with the regulations that existed for departing staff at the time.”

Those rules, Uefa added, no longer stand in the same form. The organisation says its staff regulations have been tightened since 2016 and now “reflect those found in a modern, high-profile organisation”, applying uniformly to employees “at whatever level”.

Infantino, who spent 16 years at Uefa and served as general secretary from 2009 until his election as Fifa president in February 2016, “strongly denies these categorically untrue allegations”, according to a spokesman quoted by the Telegraph. The Press Association has contacted Fifa for further comment.

The revelations land at a moment when Infantino is already under intense scrutiny. For more than a week he has faced heavy criticism over a controversial proposal to bring private investors into a new company that would control Fifa’s competitions, including the men’s and women’s World Cups.

That plan triggered a fierce backlash. Uefa and two other continental confederations rejected the proposal outright. In Europe, the anger ran so deep that Uefa raised the prospect of its 55 member associations boycotting Fifa competitions unless the scheme was abandoned.

Infantino received a show of support on Wednesday from Fifa’s management board after a meeting in Morocco, and he issued an apology over the way the process had been handled. The political storm, though, has not cleared.

Uefa responded within 24 hours, insisting that the Fifa board’s backing and Infantino’s apology “changes nothing”. Its threat of a boycott remains on the table until the investment plan is formally scrapped.

For a president who built his rise on promises of transparency and reform, the combination of governance battles and personal allegations now forms a far more uncomfortable backdrop.