FIFA official accuses President Infantino of deceiving staff over World Cup stake sale plan

FIFA's operations director, Kevin Lamour, has stated that staff at the organization were deceived by President Gianni Infantino over the plan to sell World Cup revenue stakes, adding that the project should not proceed.

In a statement sent to the Associated Press on Friday, Lamour, who works at the Zurich headquarters, effectively invited Infantino to fire him as he spoke up to defend colleagues amid intense criticism of the FIFA leader's plan to sell stakes in future World Cup profits to private investment funds.

Lamour wrote that staff had been “deceived” by Infantino's lack of transparency in planning the stake sale over several months, and that they “deserve better than contempt and threats.”

“This is a one-man project,” wrote Lamour, a long-time associate of Infantino at both FIFA and UEFA. “Not only should this project not continue… it is time for football leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions.”

Lamour's statement came hours after Infantino's senior adviser, Carlos Cordeiro, a former Goldman Sachs banker who represented football's governing body on the White House World Cup task force, resigned and urged other senior FIFA officials to speak out.

“I cannot stand by while FIFA considers selling World Cup stakes,” Cordeiro wrote in a statement. The former president of U.S. Soccer said he had not been involved in negotiations over the plan backed by a New York investment fund founded by Joshua Kushner.

“Let me be clear. I am not involved in this proposal and I oppose it completely,” Cordeiro said. He called the $20 billion commercial subsidiary a “bad deal for football.”

Lamour did not resign from the position he has held since 2024 but said he had a responsibility to his colleagues.

“And if that means I lose my job, so be it,” the French official said. “I will understand and respect that decision. At least I will sleep well tonight.”

Lamour came to football from politics two decades ago as an assistant to former UEFA President Michel Platini. He has often taken on international roles in football politics, liaising with FIFA member federations in Africa and Asia, which are weighing their own decisions ahead of Infantino's offer of $20 million each with a deadline of September 19.

Cordeiro frequently joined Infantino on working visits to the White House to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in recent years.

“Football has been the center of my life, and after more than 35 years in banking, I understand both the value of this asset and the consequences of giving up part of it,” he said. “That is why this proposal should be rejected.”

Infantino has proposed separating FIFA's commercial operations – including the men's, women's, and Club World Cups – into a $20 billion subsidiary with 20% owned by private investors. The “anchor investor,” as FIFA describes it, is Kushner, the brother of Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law.

“FIFA already has exceptional financial resources. The organization holds billions in reserves and has no debt,” Cordeiro said, noting FIFA's $15 billion revenue over the four years tied to the recently concluded men's World Cup.

“In this context, selling a permanent stake in football's most valuable asset to raise $4.2 billion makes no sense. It is mortgaging the future of football without a compelling reason,” he said.

Cordeiro said he had shared five years at FIFA with Infantino alongside people who are “dedicated, principled, and genuinely care about the game.”

“I hope they too will speak out,” he wrote, “because decisions of this magnitude should be made in the interests of football, not for the benefit of those who profit from it.”

Infantino has been FIFA president for more than 10 years and is almost certain to be re-elected unopposed in March. FIFA has set a deadline of November 18 for challengers.

Lamour was part of Infantino's inner circle that campaigned for him to become the surprise winner of the FIFA presidential election in February 2016.