FIFA Fires COO Kevin Lamour Weeks After He Accused Infantino of Deceiving Staff

FIFA confirmed on Monday, August 17, 2026, that chief operating officer Kevin Lamour has left the organization. The announcement came less than three weeks after Lamour publicly accused president Gianni Infantino of deceiving staff over a now-abandoned plan to sell stakes in FIFA's tournament business, including the World Cup.

A FIFA spokesperson kept it clinical: "FIFA can confirm that the working relationship between FIFA and Kevin Lamour as FIFA's Chief Operating Officer has ended on 17 August 2026. FIFA thanks Kevin for his two years of service and wishes him the best of luck for the future. No further comment will be made on the matter."

The statement doesn't say fired. It doesn't say resigned. FIFA declined to comment further when asked directly about reports that Lamour was dismissed, according to BBC Sport.

What Lamour actually said

On July 31, Lamour told the Associated Press that FIFA's administration had been "deceived" by Infantino over the FIFA Forward Enterprise plan, a proposal tied to a $20 billion commercial subsidiary that would sell up to a 20% stake to outside investors. He didn't stop at policy disagreement. He called it "the project of one person" and said flatly: "Not only must this project not go ahead… but the time has now come for football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions."

He went further, according to the Guardian: "Our mission is to serve football. Not to serve the personal interests of a person who, unfortunately, believes he embodies FIFA when he is supposed to be at its service." That's about as direct a shot as a sitting COO can take at his own president without resigning first.

Lamour said he knew what might happen. "If that means I lose my job, then so be it," he said. "I will understand and respect that decision. At least I'll sleep well tonight." Less than three weeks later, he's out.

The deal that started it

The proposal at the center of this involved FIFA, as a non-profit, setting up a new entity to run events like the World Cup and Club World Cup, then selling a fifth of that entity to an investor group led by Thrive Eternal, a U.S. investment fund run by Joshua Kushner, brother of Jared Kushner, for $4.2 billion, according to the New York Times. FIFA scrapped the plan following widespread internal and external backlash. Carlos Cordeiro, a senior adviser to Infantino, resigned in protest, calling the deal "a bad deal for football," according to Reuters; his resignation came hours before Lamour's public statement.

The mechanics of the exit

FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafström informed staff of Lamour's departure by email Monday evening. In a letter to FIFA Council members obtained by BBC Sport, Grafström wrote that Lamour and FIFA had "agreed to part ways" after "careful consideration and with great respect for Kevin, both personally and professionally." The Mirror published a fuller version of that letter, in which Grafström credited Lamour with "improved relationships with stakeholders" and delivery of "several significant projects of joint interest."

The warm language in Grafström's letter contrasts with the terse, three-sentence public statement FIFA issued to press.

Fair reading of FIFA's side

FIFA has not confirmed Lamour was fired. Organizations part ways with executives for all kinds of reasons that never make the press release, and a two-year tenure ending after a major internal blowup isn't automatically proof of retaliation. Grafström's letter reads like an actual effort to smooth the exit, not a hit job.

But the timeline is hard to ignore. Cordeiro resigned in protest. Lamour was reportedly excluded from internal crisis meetings before he spoke out, according to Crypto Briefing. Then Lamour went public with the deception allegation. Then, less than three weeks later, he's gone. FIFA can call it whatever it wants. The sequence speaks for itself.

What's unresolved

The FFE proposal itself is dead, at least for now. But Lamour's core allegation, that FIFA staff were actively deceived about the deal's implications, has never been addressed by FIFA on the record. No independent review of that claim has been announced. Infantino remains under pressure, with what the Guardian describes as ongoing efforts to force his removal. Whether those efforts gain any traction, or whether FIFA's Council simply moves on, is the next thing to watch.