A senior FIFA executive has claimed that staff were misled about the scope and intent of President Gianni Infantino’s plan to sell a stake in the World Cup’s commercial operations, adding fresh internal turmoil to a proposal that has already collapsed.
Kevin Lamour, FIFA’s chief operating officer, alleged that employees were deceived over the nature of the sell-off, which would have handed a private investment vehicle a 20% stake in the tournament’s commercial arm. His comments point to a widening credibility gap within football’s governing body over how the deal was conceived and presented internally.
“Staff were deceived,” Lamour stated, describing a process he said left many within the organisation unclear about what they were being asked to support.
The remarks land days after FIFA shelved the roughly $20 billion arrangement, which had drawn sharp opposition from European governing body UEFA and North American confederation Concacaf. Both bodies had rejected the plan, reflecting broader unease about the role of private equity in the sport’s most valuable properties. The episode has become a test case for how far outside capital can penetrate elite football.
At the centre of the dispute was a proposal to place the World Cup’s commercial operations into a subsidiary and sell a minority holding to institutional investors, a structure designed to unlock a large one-time cash injection. Critics argued the move risked ceding long-term control over one of sport’s most lucrative assets in exchange for short-term gains.
The internal allegations now raise questions that extend beyond the financial merits of the deal. If senior staff were indeed kept in the dark about key details, the controversy shifts from a debate over strategy to one over governance and transparency at the top of the organisation.
The rapid unravelling of the proposal after mounting resistance from football’s confederations had already signalled the difficulty of introducing private-equity-style ownership into the World Cup ecosystem. Lamour’s account suggests the friction was not only external but also ran through FIFA’s own ranks.
Private capital has made significant inroads across sports in recent years, from domestic leagues to emerging competitions, and investors have increasingly eyed football’s global reach. Yet the World Cup, held every four years and administered on behalf of national associations worldwide, occupies a uniquely sensitive position, complicating any attempt to treat it as a conventional commercial asset.
FIFA has not detailed how it will address the internal concerns raised by its chief operating officer, nor whether any review of the decision-making process will follow. The organisation faces pressure to clarify how the plan advanced and who signed off on it.
With the sale abandoned and questions of internal trust now in the open, attention turns to how FIFA repairs relations with its confederations and its own staff ahead of the next World Cup cycle. The affair is likely to shape how the governing body approaches outside investment for years to come.