FIFA COO says he was deceived by Infantino’s privatization plan

FIFA's internal crisis deepened on Friday as two senior figures publicly broke with President Gianni Infantino over his secretive plan to sell stakes in the organization's commercial operations to private investors, with a third continental governing body joining the opposition.

Lamour Calls Plan 'The Project of One Person'

FIFA Chief Operating Officer Kevin Lamour said he and staff were deceived by Infantino's proposal to create a new commercial subsidiary called FIFA Forward Enterprise, telling Bloomberg that "it is the project of one person." Lamour urged football's political leaders to "ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions" and reject the plan.bloomberg

Separately, Carlos Cordeiro, Infantino's senior adviser and former U.S. Soccer Federation president, formally resigned in protest. "Let me be clear. I had no involvement in this proposal, and I oppose it unequivocally," Cordeiro said in a statement, calling the plan "a bad deal for football". Cordeiro, a former Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ↘ 0.63% banker who served as Infantino's representative on the White House Task Force for the 2026 World Cup, also called on other senior staff to speak out.cbsnews

Opposition Mounts Across Confederations

The Asian Football Confederation on Friday became the third continental body to condemn the proposal, stating it had watched developments with "deep concern" and stood "in solidarity with UEFA and CONCACAF in expressing serious concerns over FIFA's proposal to introduce private investment into FIFA's flagship competitions".cbsnews

CONCACAF, representing North and Central American federations, had issued its own rebuke on Thursday, questioning the need for outside investment "following the most profitable FIFA World Cup in history" and criticizing the "artificially short deadline imposed". Spain defeated Argentina 1-0 in extra time at MetLife Stadium on July 19 to win that tournament.cbsnews

Infantino Doubles Down

The $20 billion plan, revealed by media reports on Tuesday, would see 20 percent of the new FIFA Forward Enterprise owned by private investors. The core investor would be a New York firm created by Joshua Kushner, the brother of President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner.cbsnews

Despite mounting opposition from what appears to be a majority of FIFA's 211 member associations, the organization blamed "incorrect media reports" for disrupting its consultation process and vowed to proceed. FIFA insisted in a statement: "Nobody is selling football".cbsnews