FIFA official sacked after criticising President Infantino's plan

FIFA Chief Operating Officer Kevin Lamour has been dismissed by football’s world governing body less than three weeks after publicly criticising President Gianni Infantino’s abandoned plan to sell a stake in the organization’s competitions to private investors.

FIFA confirmed that Lamour’s tenure had ended on August 17, but did not provide further details about the decision, Caliber.Az reports, citing the BBC Sport.

“Fifa thanks Kevin for his two years of service and wishes him the best of luck for the future,” it stated.

FIFA staff were informed of the decision in an email from Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom on Monday evening. He said the organisation and Lamour had “agreed to part ways”.

Lamour had strongly criticised the controversial FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) project last month, describing it as “the project of one person” and calling on football leaders to reconsider the plan.

“The time has now come for football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions,” he noted.

Lamour also claimed FIFA’s administration had been “deceived” over the project, which has since been abandoned.

“Our mission - the mission of the hundreds of passionate, dedicated, and exemplary FIFA employees - is to serve football”, he added. “A president must bring people together, unite them, and inspire them. Today, we are experiencing the opposite.”

Lamour joined FIFA in November 2024 after previously serving as UEFA’s deputy general secretary. He was two levels below Infantino in FIFA’s management structure.

Earlier this month, Infantino received the backing of senior FIFA executives during a meeting in Morocco. However, according to BBC Sport, Lamour was not invited to the gathering.

Infantino has faced growing opposition following his proposal to establish FFE, a new company intended to manage the commercial and ticketing rights for FIFA competitions, including the World Cup.

The plan was abandoned after Infantino’s proposal to sell a 21% stake in the company to private investment firms faced widespread criticism.

UEFA, Concacaf, which governs football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, and the Asian Football Confederation publicly opposed the proposal. UEFA also threatened to boycott the World Cup if the plan went ahead.

Following the withdrawal of the FFE proposal, UEFA and Concacaf also withdrew their support for Infantino’s bid for a fourth term as FIFA president at next March’s FIFA Congress.

Several Concacaf members, including Mexico, have nevertheless broken with their confederation to support Infantino. The African, South American and Oceanian confederations have also backed his candidacy.

On Monday, the Scottish FA became the latest football body to withdraw its support for Infantino, following similar decisions by England, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Football governance organisation FairSquare said it had written to FIFA calling for Infantino to be barred from seeking re-election.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov