Fifa Secretary General Fatma Samoura, the first woman and first non-European to become No. 2 in the world football body in 2016, will leave her post at the end of the year to devote “more time to (her) family. “, announced Wednesday the organization.
After a career at the United Nations, the 60-year-old Senegalese was appointed in May 2016 following the election of Italian-Swiss Gianni Infantino as president of the organization, and helped “restore her credibility” after a cascade of scandals, underlines Fifa in a press release. “Women’s football will have reached new heights under her leadership”, continues the authority, while the good performance of the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand (July 20-August 20) is the leader’s last major objective.
Fatma Samoura chose to cut short “speculation about (her) position” by anticipating the announcement of her resignation, which she planned to formalize “next week” with the FIFA Council, explaining that she wanted to devote herself to her family next year. Fifa gave no indication of his succession, while the N°2 appeared for seven years as consensual and discreet as Gianni Infantino was thunderous and divisive, multiplying the proposals for reforms – sometimes unfinished, such as the passage at a biennial World Cup – and the controversial statements.
“Joining FIFA was the best decision I made in my life. I am happy to have led such a diverse team, ”commented the Senegalese, appointed without experience in sport or TV rights but with a long career as a diplomat. Quadrilingual – a major asset in the body with 211 member federations -, Fatma Samoura had until then spent most of her career at the United Nations, as humanitarian coordinator, notably in Djibouti, Cameroon, Chad, Guinea, Madagascar and in Nigeria.
She had succeeded the Frenchman Jérôme Valcke, swept away by the series of corruption scandals which also took away the former president of Fifa Sepp Blatter, to embody the “new Fifa” wanted by Gianni Infantino. “Today, our body is better directed, more open, more reliable and more transparent,” assured Fatma Samoura on Wednesday.
