Meet Gianni Infantino’s wife, the silent first lady of Fifa

This year, their 25th of marriage, Leena Al Ashqar might reasonably have expected something silver from her husband, Gianni Infantino – the traditional gift for that milestone. What she might not have foreseen was an allegation that the Fifa president had an affair with a former Uefa employee, during his time as general secretary there between 2009 and 2016, who reportedly was promoted and eventually received a six-figure pay-off. Infantino, 56, who is fighting for his future following a backlash over his failed World Cup financing proposal plan, has strongly denied the claims. But Uefa is now said to be considering an investigation into his conduct over his 16 years there. And the claims have shone a light on the family life – his wife and four daughters – that the Swiss-Italian lawyer-turned-football boss has worked for decades to keep private. Private, but not entirely behind closed doors. Al Ashqar, who was born in Lebanon and grew up in Beirut (her name is sometimes spelt Lina Al Ashkar), is a regular presence by her husband’s side. She might never have given an interview and eschews social media, but she seems comfortable enough to play the supporting role of Fifa’s first lady – long, impeccably groomed black hair, expensive-looking dresses and photo opportunities galore. Shorts The couple attend major football matches together – most recently the World Cup final in New Jersey – and Al Ashqar accompanies her husband to the annual Fifa Congress, an opportunity for meeting the great and good. There are glitzy parties, with the Infantinos as guests of honour – think prestigious art galas in Miami or Gloria Estefan’s album release party, when they posed happily with the singer for pictures. Al Ashqar also flies solo, attending women in sport events and showcases for fine jewellery brands in Doha. There’s charity work, too. In 2023, when the Infantinos were in Rwanda for the 73rd Fifa Congress, she met with First Lady Jeannette Kagame to see the work of the foundations helping the country’s children through sport. Plus, like any first lady worth her salt, Al Ashqar has political relationships to navigate, not least thanks to her husband cosying-up to everyone from Vladimir Putin to Middle East leaders. Last week, he attended the inauguration of Colombia’s new President. And who can forget the photo of Infantino and his ally Donald Trump (winner of the hastily concocted “Fifa Peace Prize”) locked in conversation during the Club World Cup Final in July 2025, while their wives sat either side looking as though they’d rather be anywhere else? In many ways it’s extraordinary that the Infantinos, whose personal lives we know so little, are rubbing shoulders with the US President (whom we perhaps know too much). But while Al Ashqar plays the role of the silent on-the-sidelines spouse, it would be a mistake to assume that she doesn’t understand her husband’s world – it used to be hers, too. The couple met when she was working for the Lebanese Football Federation in events planning and administration, and Infantino was at Uefa. They married in 2001, settling in his hometown of Brig, Switzerland, and she gave up her job. What next? Childcare? Travel? Her own quiet business interests, as some rumours suggest? That’s the thing about the painfully private Infantino family – their lives are so closely guarded that any flashes of humanity, or hypocrisy, tend to make headlines. Infantino and Al Ashqar attend the Fifa Club World Cup 2025 final with Donald and Melania Trump (Photo: Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty) Take the six-day wedding of Indian billionaire’s son Anant Ambani to Radhika Merchant in 2024, which the entire clan attended in traditional dress and which saw a video of Infantino dancing on stage with Bollywood actor Ranveer Singh go viral. Or the moment in July this year when one of his daughters was pictured alongside her supposedly neutral father at the World Cup wearing a Morocco shirt. Not to mention the massive stink caused when Infantino was granted Lebanese citizenship this year, thanks to his wife. Under the country’s law, women are forbidden to pass on their nationality to spouses or children if they are married to a non-Lebanese man – something many have been fighting to change for decades. But Infantino (who also has Swiss and Italian citizenship) was granted a special presidential decree by Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. Even on this issue, Al Ashqar kept her counsel. Her husband could arguably learn by example. “Today I feel Qatari. Today I feel Arabic. Today I feel African. Today I feel gay. Today I feel disabled. Today I feel [like] a migrant worker,” he once said, explaining how he could relate to the world’s minorities. “I know what it means to be discriminated [against], to be bullied, as a foreigner in a foreign country. As a child I was bullied – because I had red hair and freckles, plus I was Italian, so imagine.” Imagine. Then there were his comments, ahead of the Women’s 2023 World Cup Final in Sydney, when he suggested that it was on female players to make football equal rather than, say, the men at its top table: “I say to all the women – and you know I have four daughters, so I have a few at home – I say to all the women, that you have the power to change… Pick the right battles. Pick the right fights. You have the power to change. You have the power to convince us men what we have to do and what we don’t have to do. You do it. Just do it.” Gianni Infantino poses with wife Leena Al Ashqar and their four children Shania, Alessia, Sabrina and Dhalia at the wedding of billionaire tycoon Mukesh Ambani’s son Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant in Mumbai in 2024 (Photo: Punit Paranjpe/AFP) Sadly, because his daughters appear to have followed in their mother’s footsteps and have no social media presence, we can’t know what they thought of his words. Even their ages aren’t in the public domain – the eldest, Shania Serena, along with Sabrina and Alessia, who may or may not be twins, are thought to be in their twenties. The youngest, Dhalia Nora, is likely still in her teens – she was about seven in 2018, during the World Cup in Russia. On LinkedIn – a rare chink in the Infantino armour – Sabrina reveals that she’s fluent in five languages (English, French, Arabic, Italian and German) and is currently a student at the University of Miami, via internships at the likes of Formula 1, fashion label Elie Saab and a role at the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, which works towards economic collaboration and human rights in the region. It’s a reflection of their truly international family life, one which sees Infantino travel by private jet and motorcades of blacked-out cars. For many years the family have been based in Switzerland and still have a penthouse flat in the lakeside town (and tax haven) of Zug. In 2022, they decamped to Doha ahead of the Qatar World Cup, with two of the girls enrolling in school there. There’s also an apartment in Paris, where Fifa has an office – in fact, their suite of homes are reportedly funded by the football governing body. After all, Infantino himself only takes home about £4m a year – for now, in the wake of his aborted plan to sell a stake in the men’s World Cup to private equity firms and those affair allegations. Whatever his future, he can count on one thing: Al Ashqar is unlikely to break her silence. As Italian singer Arianna Bergamaschi, who performed at Infantino’s 10th Fifa anniversary party this year, wrote on Instagram: “Congratulations on your beautiful family, your brilliant daughters and your wife Lina, the true rock and foundation of everything.”