Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president, plans to attend two World Cup matches each day where possible for the rest of the tournament. He will do it with a private jet provided by Qatar Airways, a travel setup that sits inside a tournament spread across 4 time zones and 3 countries.
Mexico City to Los Angeles
Last Thursday, Infantino opened in Mexico City and then flew 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, keeping a pace that few executives would try over 64 games and 16 stadiums separated by up to 2,800 miles.
Saturday pushed the route farther. He attended games in San Francisco and Vancouver between Qatar and Switzerland and Australia and Turkey respectively, then skipped Sunday afternoon because he was in Miami to host a FIFA summit attended by representatives of 211 member associations.
Qatar Airways and Carbon Cost
Infantino returned to Los Angeles on Sunday evening for Iran's first game of the tournament against New Zealand. The private jet provided by Qatar Airways is part of a sponsorship deal with FIFA, and it gives him the kind of movement needed to chase two matches a day across a map that would otherwise eat up the schedule.
The travel plan lands in the middle of a sharper argument about the tournament itself. The New Weather Institute called the World Cup in Qatar and Switzerland and Australia and “the most polluting event ever,” estimated the tournament will generate about 9 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, and put air travel at about 7.7 million tons of that total.
Rest of the Tournament
Infantino already did almost all 64 games at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar because the longest distance between stadiums there was 46 miles. This tournament is a different job: longer hops, more borders, and less room for missed connections as he tries to keep the two-match target in play for the rest of the event.
