FIFA Sacks COO Lamour Over Infantino FFE Criticism
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- Kevin Lamour was sacked as FIFA Chief Operating Officer on 17 August 2026, less than three weeks after publicly criticizing Infantino's aborted FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan — calling it "the project of one person" and saying FIFA's administration was "deceived" about the project.
- FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom informed staff by email that FIFA and Lamour had "agreed to part ways"; Lamour had joined FIFA in November 2024 from UEFA (where he was deputy general secretary) and was not invited to a Morocco meeting where Infantino secured senior-executive backing.
- Infantino's FFE proposal — which would have sold 21% to private investment companies and managed commercial and ticketing rights for all FIFA competitions including World Cups — drew opposition from UEFA, Concacaf, and the Asian Football Confederation, with UEFA threatening a World Cup boycott.
- The Scottish FA became the latest body to withdraw support for Infantino's fourth presidential term at the March 2026 FIFA Congress, joining England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland; confederations of Africa, South America, and Oceania have backed him.
- Football governance charity FairSquare wrote to FIFA demanding Infantino not be allowed to stand for re-election, and senior adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigned.
Why it matters: The sacking gives Infantino's critics a concrete public example of how internal dissent is treated ahead of the March 2026 re-election: a COO who broke ranks over FFE was removed within three weeks of speaking out. With Scotland now joining four European FAs in withdrawing support, opposition to Infantino is now visibly both internal (Lamour) and external (federations).
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