FIFA‘s chief operating officer Kevin Lamour has been sacked three weeks after he criticised Gianni Infantino’s failed plan to sell stakes in major competitions.
Staff were informed via an email from FIFA’s secretary general Mattias Grafstrom on Tuesday (AEST) that Lamour and the organisation had “agreed to part ways”.
Kevin Lamour seen at a Turkiye v Georgia game during the 2024 Euros. AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino
“FIFA thanks Kevin for his two years of service and wishes him the best of luck for the future,” the organisation wrote in a statement.
“No further comment will be made on the matter.”
The split comes after Lamour claimed the failed private investment plans “deceived” FIFA’s own administration and were truly “the project of one person”.
Lamour added FIFA president, Infantino, who was not mentioned by name in the public statement, was not fulfilling his duty of uniting people through football.
“Our mission – the mission of the hundreds of passionate, dedicated and exemplary FIFA employees – is to serve football,” Lamour said.
“Not to serve the personal interests of a person who, unfortunately, believes he embodies FIFA when he is supposed to be at its service.
“A president must bring people together and inspire them. Today, we are experiencing the opposite.”
Lamour went on to recognise that if his words meant he would lose his job, “then so be it. I will understand and respect that decision”.
Lamour’s public declaration came hours after football member associations such as the Asian Football Confederation, which Australia falls under, declared it would not be supporting Infantino’s private investment proposal.
Carlos Cordeiro, a senior advisor of Infantino, had also resigned that day after five years at the organisation due to his own disapproval of the now failed plans.
Despite most member associations holding a similar view to Lamour, Infantino went on the receive the backing of senior executives who attended a crisis meeting in Morocco earlier this month to remain in charge of FIFA.
The BBC reports Lamour, who formerly worked as a deputy general secretary at UEFA, was not invited to attend that meeting.
Australian great Craig Foster feels Lamour’s dismissal is another “disturbing sign from FIFA that demonstrates its lack of institutional integrity.”
“No different from governments, in this respect, the person who exposes the rot, the cover-up, the corruption is excised, the organisation closes ranks and moves on,” he wrote on X.
“It’s also a clear warning to others. Hold us accountable, and you’re gone.
“If Infantino survives one of then worst corruption episodes in FIFA’s modern history, a very high bar, the organisation will get worse.
“If this saga is acceptable, anything is.”
Pressure has been mounting on Infantino to is set to run for re-election as FIFA president next March.