The fallout inside FIFA has claimed another senior figure.
Kevin Lamour has left his position as FIFA’s chief operating officer, with world football’s governing body confirming that its working relationship with the French executive ended on 17 August 2026.
The timing places his departure squarely inside the wider controversy surrounding FIFA president Gianni Infantino, even though FIFA has not publicly said Lamour’s criticism was the reason his employment ended.
Lamour had emerged as one of the highest-ranking figures inside FIFA to openly challenge Infantino’s proposed FIFA Forward Enterprise project, which envisaged bringing private investment into a commercial structure connected to FIFA’s tournament business, including the World Cup.
FIFA later withdrew the proposal after acknowledging that the divisions surrounding it meant the plan should not proceed.
But the dispute went beyond money.
Fracture at the top of world football
Lamour publicly challenged the transparency surrounding the project and criticised the way the proposal had been driven. At the time, he also acknowledged that speaking out could place his own position under pressure.
Now he is gone.
FIFA has confirmed the end of the working relationship but has not publicly explained why it ended.
Established international reporting has described Lamour’s departure as a dismissal, while FIFA’s own confirmation stops short of saying he was removed because of his criticism.
A senior FIFA executive publicly challenged the president’s flagship commercial proposal.
The proposal was abandoned.
Weeks later, that executive’s tenure at FIFA ended.
The Sequence
The Forward Enterprise dispute had already triggered opposition beyond Lamour. FIFA subsequently acknowledged mistakes in the process and communication surrounding the project and said the matter would be reviewed.
Carlos Cordeiro, an adviser to Infantino, also left after opposing the private-investment proposal, adding another layer to a controversy that had moved well beyond an internal commercial disagreement.
The conflict has therefore become a test of power, process and dissent inside the most influential institution in global football.
FIFA has defended Infantino’s democratic mandate from its member associations and pushed back against what it considers attempts to undermine the organisation through unsupported allegations.
That defence makes Lamour’s departure even more consequential.
This is no longer simply a debate about whether private capital should enter World Cup-related commercial structures.
It is also about what happens when senior figures inside FIFA publicly oppose the direction of the president.
Lamour had served as FIFA’s chief operating officer since November 2024 after previously working at UEFA, placing him close to the administrative centre of the organisation.
His exit removes another experienced figure from FIFA’s senior structure while questions remain over how the Forward Enterprise proposal reached the point of public revolt before being withdrawn.
Infantino remains in charge
FIFA insists its governance framework remains intact.
But the commercial project has been abandoned, senior figures have broken ranks and one of the organization’s highest-ranking executives is now out.
The next pressure point is no longer whether Forward Enterprise survives. It does not.
The question is what the fallout does to the authority around the man who championed it.
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