FIFA to review pay, pension deals for council members

GENEVA (AP) — FIFA is reviewing payment and pension deals for FIFA Council members, who could see their $300,000 annual stipends cut.

“These matters will be dealt with in meetings at the end of this month,” FIFA said in a statement on Tuesday.

The payment review follows FIFA cost-cutting in the first year of President Gianni Infantino’s rule, and ahead of an expected loss to be reported for 2016.

One year ago, FIFA announced a $122 million deficit for 2015 and acknowledged new World Cup sponsors were put off by fallout from criminal investigations into world soccer by American and Swiss federal prosecutors.

The current $300,000 FIFA Council stipend, plus daily expenses, was agreed under the previous FIFA leadership and before the ruling panel was expanded to 37 members with fewer meetings. Members also now have fewer other committee duties.

Pension plans for FIFA Council and some former executive committee members were revealed Monday in a detailed Court of Arbitration for Sport verdict into former president Sepp Blatter’s recent failed appeal against a six-year ban. FIFA currently gives $9,000 for each year’s service, paid for the equal number of years upon the council member leaving.

It means that FIFA’s senior vice president Issa Hayatou of Cameroon is currently entitled to receive a $243,000 annual pension for each of the next 27 years.

The 70-year-old Hayatou also received a $500,000 payment for chairing the finance committee in 2015, FIFA confirmed in its most recent financial report.

That sum is also under review for new finance chairman Alejandro Dominguez, the Paraguayan president of South American confederation CONMEBOL. Although he stands to benefit from such a payment, Dominguez is part of the three-member compensation panel that will decide whether it should be paid.