ZURICH: Alasdair Bell will step down from his position as FIFA Deputy Secretary General at the end of the month.

His decision follows the decision of president Gianni Infantino to shift the world governing body’s legal from Zurich to Coral Gables, Miami, last August prompting a mass exodus of staff.

Bell has been a close adviser to Infantino since long before following him from European federation UEFA in 2018. He will remain on the payroll in an advisory role for a further six months.

Before joining FIFA, Bell worked at UEFA as general counsel and director of the legal department and was primarily responsible for issues relating to European Union law.

Previously he worked in Brussels where, in 1994, he became a partner at the legal consultancy Forrester Norall & Sutton, which later merged with the US law firm White & Case.

In 1998, Bell moved to London and acted as an external legal advisor before taking up his full-time position at UEFA in 2010.

Other departures from FIFA have included David Trasler, head of commercial legal, Alix Faguer, senior legal counsel eSports and digital products, and Ryan Perry, head of event legal.

Leah Holt, who most recently worked at FIFA as senior legal counsel partnerships, is now head of legal IP & commercial at the International Paralympic Committee in Bonn.

Lynn Carillo, former vice-president of legal at NBC Universal Media, was recently introduced as one of the first new additions to FIFA’s restructured legal department.

The Miami-born legal counsel has been serving as director of commercial legal since February and is thus taking over some of the functions of Trasler who is now with TGI Sport.

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