FIFA chief operating officer Kevin Lamour leaves amid fallout from Infantino’s World Cup sell-off plan

Kevin Lamour, FIFA’s chief operating officer based in Zurich, has left his post, a move the organisation confirmed via Britain’s Press Association late on Monday, August 17, 2026, weeks after he said staff were “deceived” by president Gianni Infantino’s World Cup sell-off plan. Lamour had publicly criticised the proposal in a statement to The Associated Press on August 1, 2026, and his departure follows a wider backlash over the proposal.

Lamour’s statement to the AP defended colleagues and said he had “all but invited Infantino to fire him” amid intense fallout from a plan to create a $20 billion commercial subsidiary that would sell stakes in future World Cup profits to private equity funds. The same day he spoke, Infantino’s senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro announced his decision to walk away and described the proposal as “a bad deal for football.” The initiative has been referred to in reports as the FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal.

Quoting a FIFA spokesperson, Britain’s Press Association said on August 17: "FIFA can confirm that the working relationship between FIFA and Kevin Lamour as FIFA's Chief Operating Officer has ended." The statement added: "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."

Infantino remains under pressure as he seeks reelection as FIFA president after the plan attracted criticism from senior officials across world football. The heads of three continental confederations — for Europe, Asia and for North, Central America and the Caribbean — issued an open letter last week calling his World Cup plan a "fundamental breach of trust" and describing it as "deception."

The $20 billion proposal was withdrawn by Infantino after what FIFA described in reporting as a furious backlash from global football officials, including the European body UEFA, which warned of a boycott of all FIFA games and events. Several national federations have since withdrawn their support for the president.

At the same time, six Arab football federations issued a statement last week expressing their "full support" and "confidence" in Infantino. Infantino has been FIFA president since 2016 and, until the controversy over the FIFA Forward Enterprise proposal, had appeared likely to face no opposition at next year’s election in Morocco.

FIFA has set a November 18 deadline for any challengers to come forward, a timetable that now frames the next stage of the organisation’s leadership process amid the ongoing dispute over the withdrawn commercial proposal.