Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura is 57 years old and before reaching FIFA left his mark on the United Nations (UN)

Her name takes more and more strength in sports and not just because of what she does on the playing fields, but because of her leadership in a giant: FIFA.

Leer en español: "En la ONU fui defensora de las mujeres y en la FIFA también lo seré"

Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura is a native of Senegal and at the age of 55, she has occupied the important position of General Secretary at the governing body of world football. She is the first woman to hold this position in the history of this organization. The last edition of Russia 2018 was her first FIFA World Cup in this important role.

From the first day, Samoura, who dedicated twenty years of life to the humanitarian services in the United Nations (UN), made statements like this one: "In the United Nations I was a defender of women and in FIFA I also I will be ", and "I will vindicate the role of women in soccer," according to the Nuevo Herald.

An empowered woman

The same media points out that Samoura led one of the most recent lists of the Forbes Magazine in terms of female power, and ahead of personalities such as the Burundian Lydia Nsekera, who is the pioneer in working as a senior in FIFA, because in 2012 she joined the FIFA Executive Committee, today called the Council.

But Samba and Nsekera are not the only women linked to the highest governing body of football. The Nuevo Herald mentions in strict chronological order Sonia Bien-Aime of the Turks and Caicos Islands, by Concacaf; the Ecuadorian María Sol Muñoz, for the Conmebol; Sandra Fruean Herrera of American Samoa, for the Oceania Football Confederation; the Italian Evelina Christillin, for the UEFA, and Mahfuza Akhter Kiron of Bangladesh, for the Asian Football Confederation.

Last May, Samoura made defiant statements to the BBC: "I came to an organization dominated by men, but they have become accustomed to me." The Senegalese continued in the same statements: "There are many people who believed that a black woman should not lead the FIFA administration, but they have already seen that it is possible, I do not want any racist near me. If he is competent enough to do the job well, it is assumed that he can do it. "

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Humanitarian profile

The official website of FIFA mentions that, with extensive experience in complex policy, security and development situations, Samoura has helped countries deal with various socio-political and economic problems related to Human Rights.

The same site adds that her successful career began in 1995 in the World Food Program. Their work has expanded to mainly African countries such as the Republic of Djibouti, Cameroon, Chad, Guinea, Niger, Madagascar and Nigeria. Samoura's academic education was at the University of Lyon, and in addition to his mother tongue, which is French, she also speaks English, Spanish and Italian.

In addition, Samoura has spearheaded humanitarian initiatives around the world. These initiatives are mainly linked to the improvement of lives, the emancipation of women and the protection of the environment.

Leadership

Her vision has allowed, according to own words of the FIFA, "the emancipation of women and young people, the change of lives and the protection of the environment".

Samba also assured that soccer has diversified, mainly in high-ranking positions. "My appointment alone will not change the perception that most people have that soccer is an eminently male sport. It is necessary that these same changes occur in the field of confederations, federations, members, and communities. "

According to as.com, it was the FIFA president himself, Gianni Infantino, who thought of Samoura for the position immediately after the well-known corruption scandal involving Jerome Valcke and the former president of the body he now chairs, the Swiss Joseph Blatter. The objective was very clear "to wash the image of FIFA".

This is how in 2016, an achievement for the women's sector was concreted. An important victory after several decades of work in pursuit of winning spaces for women in the sports world, a place traditionally full of men. "It is encouraging that there are more women in management positions every day, and time will tell whether or not I am an emblematic figure," she said in an interview with the BBC. after his appointment in FIFA.

LatinAmerican Post | Onofre Zambrano

Translated from “Conoce a la senegalesa que trabaja para reivindicar a la mujer dentro del fútbol”

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