Kevin Lamour has left his position as chief operating officer at FIFA.

Lamour’s departure comes after the FIFA executive released a statement to the Associated Press on July 31 criticising Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president, amid the fallout from the abandoned FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal.

Lamour told AP that staff had been “deceived” by Infantino regarding the FFE plan, which would have seen world soccer’s governing body make stakes in the World Cup available for private investment.

A FIFA spokesperson said in a statement to The Athletic: “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.”

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Lamour, who previously worked with Infantino at UEFA, the governing body for European football, told AP in July: “It is the project of one person. 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.”

Lamour also said that he was prepared to lose his job over speaking out publicly.

“If that means I lose my job, then so be it,” his statement to AP added. “I will understand and respect that decision. At least I’ll sleep well tonight.”

Mattias Grafstrom, FIFA’s secretary general, informed staff at FIFA via email that Lamour would be leaving the organisation and also thanked him for his service.

Lamour had been in the role since November 2024. He was previously UEFA’s deputy general secretary, having joined the European federation in 2007.

Lamour’s departure follows that of Infantino’s senior advisor Carlos Cordeiro, who resigned in July due to his opposition to the FFE plans.

In an internal letter sent to colleagues on Monday, first published on X by Jan Aage Fjortoft and since confirmed by The Athletic, Lamour praised Grafstrom and Dan O’Toole, FIFA’s chief of staff.

“His task is not an easy one, and he is doing his utmost to protect FIFA’s interests,” Lamour said of Grafstrom. “Mattias, I’m sorry for sometimes putting you in difficult situations… but thank you for always understanding me, never judging me and supporting me right up to the very end.”

He thanked O’Toole for their “daily morning chats” and his “infectious passion for work and football”, adding: “You should be proud to have Dan as a colleague. Appearances can sometimes be deceiving, things are far more complex than they seem, and FIFA is very fortunate to be able to count on Dan on a day-to-day basis and for years to come.”

Lamour then thanked other staff members at FIFA, but there was no mention of Infantino. He did thank one person called Gianni, but pointedly added “…(Manca)”.

He signed off his letter by writing: “FIFA is going through a difficult period, but don’t worry. Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay it’s not the end.”

The fallout from Gianni Infantino’s failed plan to make FIFA’s commercial and event operations available for private investment continues. (Tasos Katopodis — FIFA / FIFA via Getty Images)

In July, FIFA announced its plans to sell a significant minority stake in a new entity that it, as a non-profit organisation, was planning to set up to run its main events, such as the World Cups and Club World Cups.

FIFA wanted to sell a fifth of the new entity to an investor group led by Thrive Eternal — a U.S. investment fund run by Joshua Kushner, the brother of President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner — for $4.2billion (£3.1bn). The plans were ultimately scrapped following significant backlash.

The plans led to UEFA, Concacaf — the confederation of North, Central America and the Caribbean — and the Asian Football Confederation calling for Infantino to resign from his role at FIFA. South American federation CONMEBOL and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) have not called for the FIFA president to resign.

UEFA has also threatened to boycott all future FIFA competitions.

“UEFA’s associations were very clear about the conditions attached to the non participation in FIFA competitions,” a UEFA spokesperson told The Athletic on August 6.

“First, the proposals to sell off the major competitions had to be withdrawn and secondly, assurances have to be made that such attempts to disfigure the game in this way will never be made again.

“These conditions have not been met. In addition, UEFA made it abundantly clear in its statement on Saturday that it has lost confidence in Gianni Infantino’s presidency. That position holds.”

This statement was released by UEFA following a crisis meeting of FIFA’s senior leadership team Morocco on August 5, which led to a joint apology from Infantino and Grafstrom. Despite being part of the management board, Lamour was not invited to attend.