As FIFA increased the number of participating teams to 48, the number of matches at this World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada reached an unprecedented 104. According to Bloomberg reports on July 18th local time, as the tournament approached its conclusion, FIFA President Inzaghi attended nearly half of the matches in person.
According to data from aviation data provider JetSpy, based on the shortest flight distances between airports, the FIFA president flew approximately 57,700 miles (about 92,859 kilometers) between the host countries of Canada, Mexico, and the United States in order to complete these trips. He was transported by a luxurious Gulfstream G650ER business jet operated by Qatar Airways, which was rented at the expense of FIFA.
This flight distance is equivalent to flying between Los Angeles and New York 23 times, or circling the Earth’s equator twice.
Infantino's longest journey was on June 26, when the plane he flew in covered more than 5500 miles (approximately 8851 kilometers). The night before, he watched the game between Ivory Coast and Curaçao in Philadelphia, and spent the night in Miami. The next day, he flew to Dallas to briefly visit the Jordan team. An hour and a half later, he flew to Seattle to watch the game between Egypt and Iran. After the match, he flew back to Miami to spend the night, and the next day watched the game between Colombia and Portugal.
According to reports, FIFA's spokesperson refused to comment on Infantino's World Cup schedule.
Private airline FlyUSA’s CEO, Barry Shevlin, said that this summer, there has been a surge in demand for private chartered flights due to wealthy football enthusiasts planning trips across multiple cities. However, he pointed out that it would take at least a year for ordinary private jet customers to be able to fly distances of about 57,700 miles.
Shevlin said that Vanetti's itinerary during this World Cup could cost more than $350,000 in airfare alone, resulting in emissions of over 700 tons of carbon dioxide. This amount of emissions is roughly equivalent to the carbon footprint of 40 ordinary Americans over the course of a year.
According to reports, during the World Cup matches, the broadcast footage often showed Inzaglio multiple times. These cuts sometimes led to boos from fans, as Inzaglio was involved in several controversial incidents throughout the tournament. Notably, after US President Donald Trump called Inzaglio to request the cancellation of the suspension imposed on American player Baroni, FIFA unusually decided to reduce the suspension to one year instead of canceling it altogether.
