Source: Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe scheme sparked a major schism in world football, with several key organisations headed by UEFA, CONCACAF and Asia\u2019s AFC threatening to boycott future world events and leading calls for Infantino to stand down as president.<\/p>\n
Lamour described the plan as \u201cthe project of one person\u201d, saying FIFA officials were \u201cdeceived\u201d by the plan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe time has now come for football political leaders to ask themselves the right questions and make the right decisions,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf that means I lose my job, then so be it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will understand and respect that decision. At least I\u2019ll sleep well tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lamour is the second high-ranking FIFA official to depart in the aftermath of Infantino\u2019s proposal, with key adviser Carlos Cordeiro resigning in protest shortly after the sell-off plan was announced.<\/p>\n
Dubbed the \u201cFIFA Forward Enterprise\u201d, the plan centred on selling off 20 per cent of FIFA\u2019s commercial and operations departments, including major events such as the World Cup, to private investors.<\/p>\n
Among those linked to the deal included Joshua Kushner, brother of US President Donald Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared.<\/p>\n
While the plan swiftly drew condemnation from around the sporting world, Infantino still holds strong support in Africa and South America, with both federations publicly backing him to continue as president.<\/p>\n<\/amp-img>FIFA’S president Gianni Infantino during a visit to a sports complex in Cali, Colombia. (Photo by Jaime SALDARRIAGA \/ AFP)<\/span>Source: AFP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHe can only be ousted before March 2027\u2019s presidential election by a vote of no confidence from 43 member associations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Advocacy group FairSquare has joined calls for Infantino\u2019s head, questioning the legality of the Swiss figurehead, who took over as president from scandal-plagued predecessor Sepp Blatter in 2015, staying on for a third term.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn apparent decision taken in December 2022 to discount Infantino\u2019s first three-year term as counting as a presidential term clearly violates the letter and purpose of FIFA\u2019s rules on term limits, and circumvented the authority of the FIFA Congress,\u201d a statement reads.<\/p>\n
\u201cFIFA has never published any reasoning to support the apparent decision, which has effectively introduced an unjustifiable and dangerous exception to a rule aimed at restraining executive power, and one that could have the effect of allowing FIFA Presidents to rule in perpetuity.<\/p>\n
The statement adds: \u201cGianni Infantino is unfit to be the FIFA President, but the process by which he leaves is critically important. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf Infantino is deposed by power dynamics rather than because he has broken the rules, it will reinforce the power of the political cartel that runs the game and gave us Infantino.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The high-ranking FIFA executive who accused embattled president Gianni Infantino of having \u201cdeceived\u201d the organisation over his infamous plot to sell off a stake in the World Cup has paid the ultimate price. Kevin Lamour, who served as FIFA\u2019s chief operating officer \u2013 making him its third-highest ranking official \u2013 has been sacked less than […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":258411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6807],"tags":[156],"class_list":{"0":"post-258410","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leagues-cups","8":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}