A number of flights in a single day. Practically 60,000 miles. Greater than 100 hours aloft.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino obtained some severe air time over the course of the 2026 World Cup, the event’s most far-flung version ever. He crisscrossed North America for matches, conferences and different appearances throughout the competitors, which came about in three international locations, 16 cities and 4 time zones, and ends with Sunday’s last in New Jersey.
To trace his travels, The Related Press analyzed flight logs for a non-public enterprise jet utilized by Infantino in recent times, together with pictures taken by AP photographers and pictures posted on Instagram by FIFA and the top of world soccer’s governing physique himself. The evaluation reveals that by the point both Argentina or Spain emerges as champion, he could have flown far sufficient to circle the planet virtually 2 1/2 occasions.
Entry to a Gulfstream G650 jet from the fleet of the Qatari authorities made Infantino’s prodigious jet-setting attainable. The plane is operated by the personal constitution division of Qatar Airways, a World Cup sponsor.
Since a June 9 flight from Los Angeles to Mexico Metropolis forward of the event’s opening match, the plane averaged a couple of flight a day and on a number of days made greater than three, in response to flight-tracking web site FlightAware.
Together with attending matches, Infantino’s itinerary included stops in New York for an interview on Fox & Buddies and in Miami for a FIFA summit attended by representatives from the group’s 211 member associations. He additionally flew to Doha to attend the funeral of Qatar’s former emir earlier than returning to the U.S. in time for the World Cup semifinals.
FIFA didn’t reply to an emailed request for remark about Infantino’s journey schedule and preparations.
Right here’s a have a look at among the numbers racked up by the individual overseeing the event that can have featured a document 104 matches unfold throughout the USA, Canada and Mexico, the biggest geographic footprint in World Cup historical past.
43 matches
The variety of World Cup matches Infantino attended earlier than Sunday. FlightAware confirmed the Gulfstream initially was scheduled to fly from New Jersey to Miami in time for the third-place match between England and France however by no means took off. Thunderstorms prompted flight delays at New York Metropolis space airports on Saturday, in response to the Federal Aviation Administration.
16 stadiums
Infantino noticed at the very least one match in any respect 16 World Cup venues. Miami’s Laborious Rock Stadium, the place he attended 5 video games, is the venue he visited probably the most.
13
The variety of days Infantino attended two matches, typically at stadiums positioned a whole lot of miles aside.
21 airports
The Gulfstream largely used the host cities’ foremost worldwide airports throughout the event however typically relied on smaller normal and enterprise aviation airports, together with Atlanta’s Fulton County Government Airport and Miami’s Opa Locka Government Airport.
23
The variety of worldwide border crossings the jet made inside North America via the semifinals.
115 flight hours
The flight time the Gulfstream amassed throughout the event, not together with repositioning flights and 29 hours of journey for the funeral in Qatar, equals practically 5 full days within the air and can be sufficient for a industrial airplane touring at typical cruising pace to fly from New York to Los Angeles 20 occasions.
5 hours and 44 minutes
Excluding the journey to Qatar, the flight that took the longest lasted 344 minutes and went from Miami to Seattle, the place Infantino attended the Belgium-Egypt match on June 15. The flight time is identical size as three full World Cup matches from kickoff to last whistle.
28 minutes
The shortest flight time, excluding repositioning flights, was a 28-minute hop from Seattle to Vancouver on July 6 — in regards to the size of a community TV sitcom like “Buddies” with commercials. Infantino attended the United States-Belgium match in Seattle that day earlier than watching Switzerland face Colombia in Vancouver the next day.
59,281 miles (95,403 kilometers)
The gap the jet traveled throughout the event, excluding the journey to Qatar and again for the funeral, in response to the AP evaluation. That is greater than round-trip flights between New York and Singapore, Los Angeles and Doha, Qatar, and London and the Australian metropolis of Perth mixed.
5,772 miles (9,289 kilometers)
Probably the most miles coated in a single day’s itinerary had been on June 26, which began with a morning flight from Miami to Dallas. From there, the airplane went to Seattle, the place Infantino attended the Egypt-Iran match. The ultimate leg departed Seattle late that evening and landed the following morning in Miami. Infantino watched Colombia face Portugal there.
50%
FIFA has pledged to cut back carbon emissions from the World Cup and associated actions by half by 2030 and has dedicated to reaching net-zero emissions by 2040. The group’s 2026 World Cup sustainability and human rights technique says it’s dedicated to addressing local weather change.
Local weather researchers and environmental teams have argued that the expanded, three-country event was prone to produce probably the most atmosphere-polluting greenhouse gases of any World Cup emissions and be probably the most carbon-intensive World Cup ever due to the in depth air journey required for groups, followers and officers.
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Related Press journalist Graham Dunbar in Geneva, Switzerland contributed to this report.
