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Media275 outlets ran this5 min read

FIFA parts ways with COO Kevin Lamour after criticism of Gianni Infantino

Lamour publicly opposed Infantino's plan to sell a stake in FIFA's tournament business, including the World Cup

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

Published
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - JUNE 13: FIFA President Gianni Infantino is seen before the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group D match between Australia and Türkiye at BC Place Vancouver on June 13, 2026 in Vancouver, British Columbia. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

What this story says

  • FIFA confirmed on 17 August 2026 that Kevin Lamour, its chief operating officer, had left the organisation after two years in the role.
  • Lamour publicly criticised Gianni Infantino's plan to sell a stake in FIFA's tournament business, including the World Cup, calling it 'the project of one person' and saying staff had been 'deceived'.
  • Sky News first reported Lamour's departure, which FIFA confirmed in a statement thanking him for his service.
  • The disagreement centred on Infantino's investor plan, which was later scrapped following backlash.

Who covered it

Left 32%(52)Centre 40%(64)Right 28%(46)

Percentages are shares of the 162 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 113 of the 275 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

80/100

Craft

75/100

Hype

15/100

275 sources · methodology

FIFA confirmed on 17 August 2026 that its working relationship with Chief Operating Officer Kevin Lamour had ended. Lamour, who joined FIFA in November 2024, had publicly criticised President Gianni Infantino's plan to sell a stake in FIFA's tournament business, including the World Cup, to private investors. The plan was later abandoned after widespread opposition.

Lamour described the investor plan as 'the project of one person' and said FIFA staff had been 'deceived' by it. His departure was first reported by Sky News. FIFA issued a statement confirming the end of Lamour's tenure, thanking him for his service and wishing him well for the future. FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom also informed staff of the decision in a letter, acknowledging Lamour's contributions and expressing gratitude for his work.

What the reports agree on

All reports confirm that Lamour left FIFA on 17 August 2026 after criticising Infantino's investor plan. They agree that Lamour called the plan 'the project of one person' and said staff had been 'deceived'. The reports also note that FIFA issued a statement thanking Lamour for his service and that Sky News first reported his departure.

What the coverage left out

None of the digests, regardless of rating, included the full text of FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom's letter to staff about Lamour's departure. The letter, as reported by the Daily Mirror, acknowledged Lamour's contributions and expressed gratitude for his work. None of the right-rated digests mentioned that the investor plan Lamour criticised had been scrapped.

Tags:#FIFA#GianniInfantino#KevinLamour#WorldCup#FootballGovernance

Coverage settled. We checked this 150 times and stopped on 23 Aug 2026, 11:30. The figures above are what it finished at.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

52 rated outlets

  • The left-rated digests led on Lamour's criticism of Infantino and the investor plan. Seven of the eight left-rated digests describe Lamour as having accused Infantino of deceiving staff or betraying employees. The Daily Mirror, whose full report is printed below, quoted Lamour's statement that staff had been 'deceived' and described his criticism as directed at a plan that was 'the project of one person'. The Mirror also included Lamour's call for Infantino to step down.
  • The Daily Mirror used the word 'sacked' in its headline and reported that Lamour had said Infantino's plan was 'now scrapped following widespread backlash'. It quoted Lamour's letter directly: 'Not only must this project not go ahead. But the time has now come for football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions.'

Centre

64 rated outlets

  • The centre-rated digests focused on the fact of Lamour's departure and its timing. Five of the seven centre-rated digests described Lamour as the third-highest-ranking official at FIFA. Radio France Internationale and Ilta-Sanomat noted that Lamour's criticism had been directed at Infantino's plan to sell a stake in FIFA's tournament business. The Globe and Mail quoted Lamour's statement that staff had been 'deceived' and described the plan as 'the project of one person'.
  • None of the centre-rated digests used the word 'sacked' or 'fired' in their headlines. Algemeen Dagblad included additional context, reporting that the Dutch football association KNVB and UEFA had withdrawn their confidence in Infantino after he abandoned the investor plan.

Right

46 rated outlets

  • The right-rated digests led on Lamour's criticism of Infantino and the consequences of it. Five of the six right-rated digests described Lamour as having been dismissed or fired after criticising Infantino. Jyllands-Posten quoted Lamour's statement that staff had been 'led into the dark' by Infantino. Welt and Frankfurter Allgemeine reported that Lamour had accused Infantino of betraying employees.
  • Bild used the phrase 'Red card for Kevin Lamour' in its digest and described Lamour as one of Infantino's 'most important employees'. None of the right-rated digests mentioned that the investor plan had been scrapped. n-tv reported that Lamour had 'thrown away' his job by criticising Infantino.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover FIFA parts ways with COO Kevin Lamour after criticism of Gianni…?
Of the 162 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 32% are rated left, 40% are rated centre, 28% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 275. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is FIFA parts ways with COO Kevin Lamour after criticism of Gianni… left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 162 rated outlets on this story, 32% are rated left, 40% are rated centre, 28% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of FIFA parts ways with COO Kevin Lamour after criticism of Gianni… biased?
FIFA parts ways with COO Kevin Lamour after criticism of Gianni Infantino is one event reported by 275 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which outlets covered FIFA parts ways with COO Kevin Lamour after criticism of Gianni…?
275 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
Why did Kevin Lamour leave FIFA?
Kevin Lamour left FIFA after publicly criticising President Gianni Infantino's plan to sell a stake in FIFA's tournament business, including the World Cup. Lamour called the plan 'the project of one person' and said staff had been 'deceived'. FIFA confirmed his departure on 17 August 2026.
What was Gianni Infantino's plan that Lamour criticised?
Gianni Infantino proposed selling a stake in FIFA's tournament business, including the World Cup, to private investors. The plan was later scrapped following widespread backlash. Kevin Lamour criticised it as 'the project of one person' and said FIFA staff had been 'deceived'.
Which outlets reported that Lamour was sacked?
The Daily Mirror, Jyllands-Posten, Bild, and n-tv used the words 'sacked' or 'fired' in their headlines or digests. Other outlets, including those rated centre, described Lamour's departure without using those terms.
Did any outlets report that the investor plan was scrapped?
The Daily Mirror and Algemeen Dagblad reported that the investor plan was scrapped following widespread backlash. None of the right-rated digests mentioned that the plan had been abandoned.

Read it at the source

275 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

52
Show 44 more

Centre

64
Show 56 more

Right

46
Show 38 more

Not rated

113
Show 105 more

How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

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