Anywhere one looks around the world, the soccer industry is struggling with the financial effects of the coronavirus. Leagues are counting their losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Stadiums remain empty. Staff members are being furloughed. And players, even those at the richest clubs, have agreed to millions of dollars in pay cuts or salary deferrals.

But there is one group that has proved bulletproof from the costs of the pandemic: FIFA’s top executives.

While cost-cutting, resource-saving and painful decisions have become the norm in most of the soccer world, the men and women who sit on FIFA’s 37-member governing council continue to collect six-figure salaries that, for some, will amount to $250,000 this year but require their attendance at as few as three meetings. The most senior officials, who have added responsibilities, will earn even more; FIFA pays its vice presidents $300,000.

And merely showing up has been easier this year: With most international travel restricted or ill-advised, council members need only an internet connection and a comfortable chair to take part.

Source: New York Times

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