17 May 2016

For a very long time, women have been spectators as men run the show in footballl matters. Things are however slowly changing as different women in sport both regionally and internationally are piling pressure on different sporting codes to consider giving  a chance to capable women to prove their mettle in higher decision making positions.

World football governing body FIFA has appointed a woman to the position of secretary general. FIFA boss, Gianni Infantino has appointed the first female secretary general, Senegalese Fatma Samoura   at the just ended FIFA’s 66^th ordinary congress in Mexico City.

Justifying his decision of appointing someone outside football, Infantino said it was essential for FIFA to incorporate fresh perspectives – from outside the traditional pool of football executives as they continue to restore and rebuild their organisation, adding that no one exemplified what they needed more than Samoura and they were thrilled that she had joined their team.

He told delegate that Samoura  was a woman with international experience and vision who had worked on some of the most challenging issues of their time and she had a proven ability to build and lead teams. Samoura is a 20 year veteran of UN programme who is currently the UN resident/humanitarian coordinator and UNDP resident represantative in Nigeria.

Since its inception, the post of secretary general at FIFA has been occupied by men only. From 1904 to 1906 the secretary was Louis Muhlinghaus of Belgium who passed the baton to Cornelis August Wilhelm Hirschman of Netherlands who was at the helm until 1931.

Dr Ivo Schricker of Germany became the secretary from 1932-1951 From then it became a Switzerland affair given that Kurt Gassmann took it from 1951 to 1960, passed it to Helmut Käser from 1961 to 1981, then came Sepp Blatter 1981–1998, who handed the baton over to Michel Zen-Ruffinen from 1998–2002, Urs Linsi took it from 2002–2007 It was only in 2007 when Frenchman Jérôme Valcke became the secretary until 2015. Meanwhile International Working Group on Women in Sport secretary general Game Mothibi told BOPA that the appointment of a woman at that level was “a very commendable step taken by a body  such as  FIFA which is very popular.”

She said the appointment of Samoura showed that women had always been as capable  as anyone else. All that they lacked were opportunities  to show that they  could equally do what their male counterparts were doing.The appointment of Samoura, she said was also a milestone in women and sport development and it would go a long way in the history of sport.

“The position of SG is the life wire of every organisation and that simply means Fatma is FIFA. I have confidence in her and I can assure everyone that with her experience she will deliver to the best of her abilities and whatever challenges she will face will be normal challenges for everyone in a position of SG,” she said.  

Furthermore, Mothibi said being first woman secretary general for FIFA and also from Africa was a great achievement and came at an opportune time when IWG was hosted in Botswana. &nbs