September 19 – The summer transfer window might be shut but off the field FIFA have made a high-profile signing by poaching one of the most respected executives in European football from UEFA.
Kevin Lamour, currently UEFA’s deputy general secretary, will step up as FIFA’s chief operating officer on November 1.
The 44-year-old Frenchman has amassed an impressive portfolio during his two stints at UEFA since 2007, earning accolades for his advocacy for integrity and good governance.
The move to FIFA reunites Lamour with Gianni Infantino and secretary general Mattias Grafström. They worked together for several years at UEFA and on Infantino’s successful election campaign to FIFA in 2016.
Lamour declined the chance to switch to FIFA then, and soon returned to UEFA which he had left in 2015 after his long-time boss Michel Platini was investigated over financial wrongdoing with then-FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
Lamour was not implicated in that case and was back running the UEFA president’s executive office for the new incumbent, Aleksander Čeferin.
Though FIFA and UEFA have often had tense relations under Infantino and Čeferin, a FIFA message to staff noted a “smooth and friendly transition while making Kevin available to us so quickly.”
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