Infantino shows the red eye: senior FIFA official sacked officially | Goal.com

Veröffentlicht am 17 Aug 2026 | Lesezeit: 2 Minuten

FIFA have sacked chief operating officer Kevin Lamour, less than three weeks after he sharply criticised president Gianni Infantino's failed plan to sell stakes in competitions to private-sector investors.

A FIFA spokesperson confirmed the move in a statement, according to "BBC Sport", saying that "the working relationship between FIFA and Kevin Lamour in his capacity as chief operating officer ended on 17 August 2026".

He added: "The International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) thanks Kevin for his two years of service and wishes him all the best for the future".

Secretary General Mattias Grafström broke the news to FIFA staff in an email on Monday evening, telling them the organisation and Lamour "had agreed to part ways".

Last month, Lamour dismissed the plans for the controversial FIFA Forward project as "a one-person project" and said "the time has now come for football's political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and take the right decisions".

FIFA's own administration, he claimed, had been "deceived" about the project that has now been abandoned.

He continued: "Our mission, the mission of the hundreds of passionate, dedicated and idealistic FIFA staff, is to serve football".

Then he went further: "The president must bring people together, unite them and inspire them. Today, however, we are witnessing the opposite".

Lamour acknowledged that he owed a duty of loyalty to his employer, but also to "certain values" and to supporting his colleagues.

He added: "If that means I lose my job, so be it. I will understand and respect that decision. At least I will sleep soundly tonight".

Lamour joined FIFA in November 2024, having previously served as deputy general secretary at the Union of European Football Associations. He sat two management levels below Infantino.

Infantino won the backing of senior executives at a meeting in Morocco earlier this month, but BBC Sport was told Lamour was not invited.

Pressure on the president has been mounting since he proposed a new company, FFE, to manage the commercial and ticket-selling rights for all FIFA competitions, including the World Cup.

The FFE project collapsed after Infantino's plan to sell 21% of the company to private investment firms met with widespread criticism.

UEFA, CONCACAF, which runs football in North and Central America and the Caribbean, and the Asian Football Confederation all publicly opposed the plan. UEFA went as far as threatening to boycott the World Cup if it went ahead.

Lamour turned on Infantino, and one of the president's senior advisers, Carlos Cordeiro, resigned.

Once the proposal was scrapped, UEFA and CONCACAF withdrew their support for Infantino's bid for a fourth presidential term at the FIFA congress next March.

Several CONCACAF members, including Mexico, broke ranks with their confederation to back Infantino, while the African, South American and Oceanian confederations lined up behind the FIFA president.

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