Fatma Samoura, the first lady of football

Breaking glass ceilings

If there’s a woman who embodies the ‘’breaking the glass ceiling’’ ideology perfectly, it is Senegalese, Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura, current Secretary General and second in command in football’s world governing body, FIFA.

In actual fact, Samoura would be the first woman and African to ever hold a top executive position in FIFA’s over 100 years of existence, a baffling revelation in the organization’s history.

Samoura comes with no experience in the sport, save for being the wife of a footballer. However, with 21 years of administrative experience working with the United Nations, she believes her work in the UN is experience enough for her new role at FIFA.

She served as a humanitarian co-ordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) resident representative in Nigeria, where she was in charge of budgets, human resources, procurement and oversaw the work of nearly 2,000 staff members.

Her career began with her role as a senior logistics officer with the World Food Programme in Rome in 1995. She has a master’s degree in English and a post master’s degree in International relations and International trade and speaks English, Italian, Spanish and French fluently.

Being purely administrative, she will be responsible for implementing council decisions as well as handling FIFA’s finances, international relations, organisation of the World Cup, and other competitions.

 

Second place in a ‘boys’ club’

Her appointment was met with lots of hope that the patriarchal body of football is experiencing a shift in gender equity especially in top executive level.

However, a lot of people are sceptical given that she has no experience in sports administration. Some are of the opinion that her appointment is a set up for failure.

Despite the many challenges and varied opinions regarding her appointment and work experience, Samoura believes she is up to the task.

“FIFA is the UN of football. My creative challenge when taking up this position is: how we can link the work that I was doing with the UN – to restore peace and bring cohesion between fighting parties – and football”, she says.

When it comes to having women in top positions in the male dominated sports, Samoura is convinced that things are changing. Her appointment signals the readiness of the new FIFA president Gianni Infantino to restructure and ensure equity in the governing body of world football.

“When it comes to women’s position in football, we’ve got a long way to go”, she said in an interview with CNN Sports.

Her mission is simple; to bring equality and fairness both in the game and the administration of football at FIFA.

“When you look at FIFA at the low executive level, there are more women than men. In fact, 61% of women and less than 40% men.

“But as we are getting higher to the football governing body hierarchy today we are only 42% of women and definitely the target is to have, by the end of the first mandate term of the president, 50% representation at all levels  – including at all levels in the confederation level”, she said in the interview.

This is not all. She hopes that during her tenure, the women’s sports become self-sufficient enough to generate its own revenue and support youth and grassroots women’s competitions as well.

“We are, let’s say, heavily dependent on the men’s World Cup in order to fund all of our other competitions”, she says.

 

Stirring FIFA’s troubled ship

One of the major challenges Samoura faces in her new role is bringing back staff morale and faith back into the organisation which has been hit by scandals of great magnitude from two major world sports leaders.

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter and former UEFA president Michel Platini are both serving lengthy bans from all football-related activities, while a Swiss criminal investigation is ongoing.

She wants the financial audits and legal proceedings of the pending court cases and the day to day activities of FIFA dissociated from each other. This she says will enable the staff move on with its operations and she hopes to ensure the errors of the past are not repeated in during her tenure.

Another major pain points Samoura is expected to address in the first few years of her office is racism and violence in the game and the spotlight is on Russia ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

During Euro 2016, football fans were blamed for the violence which erupted in the French city of Marseille. The 2018 FIFA World Cup is expected to take place in Russia from June 14 to July 15 and concerns are sprouting over the ability of the country to peacefully stage the Confederations Cup ahead of the World Cup in 2018.

Samoura, who is responsible for organizing of the World Cup, and other competitions says her focus will be on educating fans around the globe to change harmful racist perceptions that incite violence and attacks at sporting events.

 

Moving forward

Navigating the murky, patriarchal waters of football – the game and politics – may seem like a daunting task for a woman especially one with no experience of the game and its intricacies and in a male dominated setting.

Few months after her appointment, Samoura raised some dust over her scoff at the England football team over FIFA’S ban of English and Scottish football players wearing black armbands bearing poppy symbols during a match on Armistice Day.

Her stance was firm despite the backlash – in FIFA there are rules and everyone must follow them.

The world is keen to see what she accomplishes during her tenure and how she opens the doors for more women involvement in top level administration at FIFA.