AP Interview: Klaveness slams Infantino’s FIFA for firing top executive in ‘management by fear’

AP Interview: Klaveness slams Infantino’s FIFA for firing top executive in ‘management by fear’ 1 of 2 | FIFA President Gianni Infantino, front center, and Norway’s Football Federation president Lise Klavenessin, front second right, the stands ahead of the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between Ivory Coast and Norway in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) 2 of 2 | UEFA’s deputy general secretary Kevin Lamour, centre, looks on as he stands next to UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, right, prior to the start of a Group F match between Turkey and Georgia at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Dortmund, Germany, Tuesday, June 18, 2024. K(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File) 1 of 2 | FIFA President Gianni Infantino, front center, and Norway’s Football Federation president Lise Klavenessin, front second right, the stands ahead of the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between Ivory Coast and Norway in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) 1 of 2 FIFA President Gianni Infantino, front center, and Norway’s Football Federation president Lise Klavenessin, front second right, the stands ahead of the World Cup round of 32 soccer match between Ivory Coast and Norway in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Tuesday, June 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share 2 of 2 | UEFA’s deputy general secretary Kevin Lamour, centre, looks on as he stands next to UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, right, prior to the start of a Group F match between Turkey and Georgia at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Dortmund, Germany, Tuesday, June 18, 2024. K(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File) 2 of 2 UEFA’s deputy general secretary Kevin Lamour, centre, looks on as he stands next to UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, right, prior to the start of a Group F match between Turkey and Georgia at the Euro 2024 soccer tournament in Dortmund, Germany, Tuesday, June 18, 2024. K(AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File) Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] GENEVA (AP) — FIFA’s removal of the senior official who said Gianni Infantino deceived staff with his World Cup sell-off plan was unacceptable, Norway soccer president Lise Klaveness said on Tuesday while urging other leaders at the governing body to resist potentially damaging orders.The firing of FIFA chief operating officer Kevin Lamour late Monday came 17 days after his statement to the Associated Press criticizing Infantino’s $20 billion private equity project that helped to end it hours later.“Now he is thrown out and we are supposed to move on. It’s unacceptable, it’s management by fear,” Klaveness told the AP in a telephone interview, describing Lamour as “the best football administrator I have ever met.”“Now we also have to call upon FIFA leadership and the administration to not submit to orders you know are not in the interests of football,” Klaveness added, especially targeting FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafström.She is a former Norway international player, a judge in Oslo and an elected executive committee member at European soccer body UEFA who has built on her country’s long-held reputation as a champion of good governance in soccer. Lamour was a long-time colleague of Infantino, first as senior officials at UEFA from 2007-15, on his campaign team to be elected FIFA president in 2016, then moving two years ago from UEFA to oversee much of FIFA’s operations in Zurich. Infantino in crisisWith a reputation among the most trusted executives in the often murky world of global soccer politics, Lamour’s pointed criticisms of Infantino’s leadership intensified a crisis for the FIFA president.A backlash by UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation and north American soccer body CONCACAF was provoked by a secretive plan to sell future World Cup profits to investors led by Joshua Kushner. 1 MIN READ 1 MIN READ 1 MIN READ A $4.2 billion investment to take a 20% stake in a FIFA commercial spin-off was to fund offers of $20 million to each of its 211 national member federations. They already effectively own the non-profit soccer body, which has multibillion dollar reserves, and would have had a mid-September deadline to accept.Lamour’s statement on July 31 spoke of FIFA staff being “deceived” by Infantino’s lack of openness over the now-failed sale and how they “deserve better than contempt and intimidation.”The French executive called on soccer leaders worldwide “to make the right decisions” and signed off: “If that means I lose my job, then so be it. I will understand and respect that decision. At least I’ll sleep well tonight.” Fired, not resigned“This is a firing situation, it’s not a resignation,” Klaveness said of Lamour’s exit, suggesting it was done by Grafström “obviously being pressured by the president.”In a statement, FIFA said it “thanks Kevin for his two years of service and wishes him the best of luck for the future.”“His statement was necessary to kill the project,” Klaveness said of Lamour’s intervention. “He said something that was obvious, that was very important that someone within the staff told us the story so that we knew it was not FIFA, as such, but one person.”Infantino called a meeting with senior management minus Lamour in Rabat, Morocco. After that Aug. 5 meeting, a FIFA statement apologized for errors and said those managers who attended “reaffirmed their full support” of Infantino’s presidency. “We all got reports in Morocco, we know it’s a management of fear,” Klaveness said. “It’s not in football’s best interests.” Until the uproar over Infantino’s “FIFA Forward Enterprise” proposal, he seemed sure to be reelected unopposed next year in Morocco. The deadline is Nov. 18 for challengers to enter the contest. Dunbar is an Associated Press sports news reporter in Geneva, Switzerland. He focuses on the governing bodies, institutions and politics of international sports.