Today, March 8 2021, ASVG joins the rest of the world in celebrating International Women's Day. In celebration of the day, we celebrate the life of the second most powerful person in football, FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura.
Appointed to the post by the current FIFA president Gianni Infantino in 2016, Samoura's road to be the most influential woman in football has been unprecedented. When she was appointed to the position, the 58-year old Senegal native had never been in football administration. At the time, she was working for the United Nations It therefore comes as no little surprise that her occupying the FIFA Secretary General position, the first non-European to do so, was met with both optimism and skepticism. Optimism in that Samoura came as someone not marred by the rot in football, thus she was a face of reform at an organisation still smarting from its corrupt legacy of Sepp Blatter's regime.
Skepticism in that as someone with no experience in football, she was to be just a pawn to be used as just a mere example of in the new Infantino regime.
But whatever the reason Infantino may have had, good or bad, Samoura seems to have taken to her role as Infantino's football fixer with aplomb. With her at the helm, FIFA has undertaken to reform and create accountability for it's generally 'corrupt organisations.' It therefore comes as no surprise that when CAF found itself engulfed by scandals, Infantino looked to her Ms Fixer Samoura to help clean the mess. Of more note is that since she ascended to the position, there has been an increase in the number of women in administration at FIFA. She has also overseen initiatives within FIFA to aid in the growth of women football across the world. #internationalwomensday2021 #ChooseToChallenge #asvgchoosetochallenge
By Editor
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