How FIFA president Gianni Infantino is attending so many World Cup matches in environmentally unfriendly, expensive way

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The early broadcasts of the 2026 FIFA World Cup manage to keep showing Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president, in the stands.

He's certainly getting around, despite the matches in North America taking place very far apart from one another.

Infantino attended two matches on the opening day of the tournament: Mexico-South Africa in Mexico City, then South Korea-Czechia in Guadalajara.

On Friday, he watched the United States beat Paraguay in Los Angeles.

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He went to San Francisco (Qatar-Switzerland) and Vancouver (Australia-Turkey) on Saturday.

Sunday brought him to a FIFA summit in Miami.

On Monday, he watched Iran play New Zealand in Los Angeles.

Yep, that's a lot of airline miles.

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Gianni Infantino's private plane

Infantino is utilizing a private jet to make his forays across North America for matches.

"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," The Guardian wrote in a new article on Tuesday.

The Guardian's Matt Hughes adds that Infantino wants to get to two matches per day as often as possible.

It was much easier in Qatar in 2022, where the longest distance between stadiums was 46 miles.

The longest distance between stadiums at this World Cup is 2,800 miles.

The entire World Cup is estimated by the New Weather Institute to generate nine million tons of carbon dioxide pollution, according to The Guardian.

Infantino is doing his part.

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