Concacaf president Victor Montagliani is paid over $3m per year for what the organization claims is just five hours per week of work, according to the latest tax filing made to the Internal Revenue Service.
Publicly available filings, first reported by ProPublica, show that the Canadian was paid $2.1m in base compensation and an additional $893,750 in unspecified bonus and incentive compensation for the 2024 tax year. An additional $15,780 was paid in deferred or retirement compensation.
Montagliani is the highest paid Concacaf official, according to the filing. Phillipe Mogglio, the general secretary, was paid $1,569,600 in base compensation with bonuses and other payments elevating his yearly income from Concacaf to over $2.4m. Concacaf, the host confederation of the 2026 Fifa World Cup, reported that Mogglio works an average of 40 hours per week.
Under US tax law, Concacaf is designated a 501(c)(6); a non-profit trade organization exempt from paying any corporate tax that may otherwise apply. Similar organizations include the American Medical Association and the National Association of Manufacturers. Concacaf is headquartered in Miami.
Having reviewed the finding, Richard Schmalbeck, a Duke University law professor who focuses on taxation and non-profit organizations, speculated that the listing of Montagliani’s working hours was “inaccurate”.
“If it’s really five hours then he is extremely well paid but I doubt it is the case,” he said. “I think this is something they just routinely plug in. I have been on boards because I teach non-profit law and I don’t think I have ever been asked by the organization’s accounting firm how many hours I have spent [at work].”
“[Montagliani] didn’t sign the return. Someone else signed the return. It was not circulated to the board members for their review. In my experience, it is not the practice of the accountants to ask these questions. They should ask them but they generally don’t.”
The filing was prepared by international tax consultant firm BDO and signed off by Concacaf’s chief financial officer Alejandro Lesende. Concacaf declined to comment.
In 2023, during an appearance before a Canadian parliamentary committee investigating business deals involving Canada Soccer and sexual abuse within the sport while he was on the board, Montagliani was drawn into a tense exchange with a Canadian member of parliament over his Concacaf compensation.
Asked how much he earned from Concacaf and Fifa, Montagliani claimed that “the organization that I am the president of has a policy with respect to not disclosing that number.”
The IRS filing reveals Montagliani to be among the highest paid football officials in the world outside club football. Uefa has reported president Aleksander Čeferin was paid just over $4m for the 2023/2024 financial year. Conmebol President Alejandro Domínguez from Paraguay is estimated to earn over $1m in his role.
Neither the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) nor Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) publicly disclose the compensation of presidents Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa nor Lambert Maltock, respectively.
South Africa’s Patrice Motsepe is reported to decline compensation for his role as president of the Confederation of African Football (Caf).
Confederation presidents also sit on the Fifa Council and receive net annual compensation of $300,000 plus expenses, according to Fifa. President Gianni Infantino was paid over $6m in 2024 according to recent reports.
Montagliani was elected president of Concacaf in 2016 after years of corruption severely damaged the reputation of the 41-member body that includes the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Montagliani was previously president of Canada Soccer from 2012 to 2017 where he served in a volunteer role.
His tenure as Concacaf president brought stability to the organization and he led the initial bid for the 2026 Fifa World Cup to be co-hosted by the US, Canada, and Mexico. Montagliani oversaw the creation of the men’s Nations League, expansion of Concacaf club competitions and welcomed Saudi Arabian interest into the region. In 2024, the Saudi-backed Public Investment Fund, which owns Newcastle United, began funding Concacaf tournaments.
Saudi’s state oil company Aramco was announced as the “official energy partner” for all of Concacaf’s national team and club competitions. Air Riyadh was also announced as the confederation’s official airline partner. The Saudi national team took part in the 2025 Gold Cup.
Concacaf engages a compensation committee to decide remuneration for members of its council including the president. Concacaf declined to comment when asked by the Guardian for details of the compensation committee’s membership.
The 2025 filing also revealed US Soccer Federation president Cindy Parlow Cone was paid $150,000 per year for an average of five hours of work per week in her role as a Concacaf council member. Canadian Nick Bontis, ousted as Canada Soccer president by board members in 2023 just days after being elected to the Concacaf council, was similarly paid $150,000 per year for five hours work per week.
