FIFA has dismissed its chief operating officer, Kevin Lamour, effective August 17, 2026, after a public confrontation in which he accused President Gianni Infantino of misleading staff about plans to sell stakes in World Cup commercial rights to private equity investors. The termination ends a remarkably short tenure for an executive who had joined the organization only about nine months earlier.

The allegations behind the dismissal

On July 31, Lamour released a public statement accusing Infantino of a lack of transparency over two linked proposals: the sale of future World Cup revenue streams to private equity funds, and the creation of a $20 billion commercial subsidiary that Lamour described as "a bad deal for football."

The charge went beyond strategic disagreement. Lamour alleged that Infantino had actively deceived FIFA staff about the nature and implications of those plans — a notably more serious accusation than an ordinary policy dispute between executives.

The accusation is especially charged at FIFA, which has operated under heightened governance scrutiny since the 2015 corruption scandal, when U.S. prosecutors indicted dozens of football officials and the organization adopted a reform program centered on transparency and accountability. Infantino has led FIFA since 2016, taking office in the aftermath of that upheaval.

"If that means I lose my job, then so be it. I'll sleep well tonight," Lamour said, according to reporting on the statement. He framed his decision to speak out as an act of solidarity with colleagues, suggesting the commercialization push carried consequences that rank-and-file staff had not been told about.

FIFA has not issued any public statement explaining the termination.

The commercial strategy in dispute

The proposed $20 billion commercial subsidiary would have created a separate vehicle to house and sell those rights, structurally distancing FIFA's core governance from its most lucrative income streams. Those streams are considerable: the World Cup generates the bulk of FIFA's income — about $7.5 billion in the 2019–2022 cycle, with roughly $11 billion projected for the four years through 2026 — and the 2026 tournament, the first to feature 48 teams, was hosted across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Selling equity in those rights would mark a departure for FIFA, which has historically funded itself through direct, cycle-by-cycle sales of World Cup broadcast and sponsorship rights. It would, however, follow a wider trend across elite sport: CVC Capital Partners has taken minority stakes in Spain's La Liga, France's Ligue 1 and international rugby's Six Nations, while Silver Lake bought into Manchester City's parent company, City Football Group — deals that traded upfront cash for a share of long-term media and commercial revenues, and that drew opposition and legal challenges from some clubs.

Lamour's criticism did not emerge in isolation. A senior adviser had already resigned before he made his statement, and reports surfaced that Lamour had been deliberately excluded from internal crisis meetings as tensions within the organization escalated.

A short tenure, a swift exit

Lamour joined FIFA as COO on November 1, 2024, arriving from UEFA, where he had served as deputy general secretary. Less than a year later, he is out — fired after publicly challenging the president.

The sequence of events is consistent with that reading: a senior adviser resigned before Lamour spoke; Lamour was reportedly cut out of meetings; then Lamour spoke; then Lamour was fired.

The fate of the underlying commercial proposals — the private equity stake sale and the $20 billion subsidiary structure — remains unresolved. Under FIFA's statutes, ultimate authority over the organization's governance rests with the FIFA Congress, where each of the 211 member associations holds a vote. Lamour's termination removes a vocal internal opponent, but it does not resolve the substantive concerns he raised.