Lise Klaveness has openly called on FIFA’s senior administrators to defy Gianni Infantino from inside the organisation.
The president of Norway’s football federation told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the sacking of chief operating officer Kevin Lamour, 17 days after he publicly criticised the FIFA president, was a “firing situation, not a resignation,” and singled out FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafström as one of the executives who must now stand up to Infantino.
“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 said.
She described Lamour as “the best football administrator I have ever met” and framed his removal as evidence of how Infantino runs the governing body.
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“Now he is thrown out and we are supposed to move on. It’s unacceptable, it’s management by fear.”
The statement that killed the deal
Lamour was dismissed late on Monday, August 17. His fate had appeared to be sealed on July 31, when he issued a public statement to the AP accusing Infantino of a lack of openness over a proposed $20 billion private equity sale of FIFA’s commercial rights, saying staff had been “deceived.”
The plan, led by investor Joshua Kushner, would have brought $4.2 billion for a 20% stake in a FIFA commercial spin-off, with $20 million going to each of the 211 member federations. It was withdrawn within hours of Lamour’s intervention.
Klaveness said the statement had done its job.
“His statement was necessary to kill the project.”
Grafström named as the man being pressured
Klaveness argued Lamour had not chosen to leave and that Grafström had acted on orders from above.
She said the secretary general was “obviously being pressured by the president” when Lamour was moved out.
The Rabat meeting
Two weeks before the sacking, Infantino called senior management to Rabat, Morocco, on August 5. Lamour was not there. FIFA said afterward that those in the room had “reaffirmed their full support” for the president.
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Klaveness said what happened in Rabat only confirmed what she was hearing from inside the organisation.
“We all got reports in Morocco, we know it’s a management of fear. It’s not in football’s best interests.”
FIFA’s one-line reply
FIFA said only that it “thanks Kevin for his two years of service and wishes him the best of luck for the future,” adding that “no further comment will be made on the matter.” The governing body did not respond to a request for comment on Klaveness’s remarks.
The Norwegian federation’s board has already called for Infantino to resign, but Klaveness said Norway was not currently working on an alternative candidate.
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“We are not there at all and that is 100% the truth.”
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