Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura, Senegal
FIFA Secretary General
Judged on power alone, Samoura is without compare. The Senegal-born, France-educated bureaucrat became the first female secretary general of FIFA in May 2016. This made her the second-most authoritative person – behind only president Gianni Infantino – in the world’s most-popular sport. This base is only further increased by a mandate to look after the organisation’s commercial and operational sides. Forecasts for budgeted revenue of $5.6 billion for 2015-18, above previous expectations, shows how effective the 56-year-old has been. Samoura’s appointment – and subsequent productiveness – came at a key time for FIFA. The governing body was addled by ethics violations at the time, with predecessor Jerome Valcke implicated in the corruption. FIFA had to get its main hires right. To ensure the efficacy of their decision, they turned towards a distinguished woman with 21 years’ experience working as a humanitarian for the United Nations. Countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe all benefited from her enviable skills. This “significant experience in complex development, socio-economic, political and security situations”, as cited on her FIFA profile, made her the perfect candidate at a tumultuous moment in the organisation’s history. Where Samoura used the reach of the UN to try and change the world previously, her mandate now is to use the popularity and power of football as a driver. Beyond simply increasing the bottom line, Samoura cited in an interview with Forbes – who also named her 2018’s most powerful women in international sports – a rise of female representation on committees to “15 or 16 per cent”. Increasing diversity in staid – and patriarchal – FIFA is a huge task, but one that appears to be moving well. Samoura was also the figurehead for October 2018’s launch of FIFA’s “first-ever global strategy for women’s football”. After an inaugural worldwide women’s league was rejected last March, the success – or failure – of this drive could help define her tenure.
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– Her husband had a brief career as a professional footballer before injury ended his playing days aged 20.
– Samoura’s speaks four languages – French, Italian, English and Spanish.
– In August 2018, Samoura was cleared of allegations about a conflict of interest. Members of FIFA’s World Cup bid evaluation task force said she had an undeclared family link with Morocco 2026 bid ambassador El Hadji Diouf, allegations she labelled as “totally ridiculous and baseless”.
– Samoura holds a masters degree in English and Spanish from the University of Lyon, plus a post-masters degree in International Relations/International Trade from the Institut d’Etudes Superieures Specialisees (IECS) – Strasbourg-France.
– With the UN, she served as country representative or director in Djibouti, Cameroon, Chad, Guinea, Madagascar and Nigeria.
Did you know…
Billie Jean King knows a thing or two about smashing through glass ceilings. The tennis great and revolutionary advocate welcomed Samoura’s appointment on Twitter by saying: “So happy Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura appointed #FIFA Secretary General. Strong move by Gianni Infantino and an important first step.”
“My appointment in 2016 was a very strong signal that FIFA, a male-dominated organisation, was opening itself to more diversity. For some good reason, it has not been an isolated case because we now have a much stronger women representation at all levels of FIFA administration.” Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura (Source: Forbes)
Twitter: @fatma_samoura
