Fatma Samoura

Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura{{cite web | title=Secretary General | website=FIFA | date=26 April 2021 | url=https://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/organisation/secretary-general | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230629233839/https://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/organisation/secretary-general | archive-date=29 June 2023 | url-status=live | access-date=12 July 2023}} was born in Dakar, in the recently independent{{cite web | title=FIFA Secretary-General Fatma Samoura hails female empowerment|first=Gary|last= Meenaghan | website=Arab News | date=8 March 2018 | url=https://www.arabnews.com/node/1261726/amp | access-date=12 July 2023}} Senegal, on 9 September 1962.{{cite web |title=Governance Report 2016 |url=https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/1627ed47ecfb3a7e/original/gkpaxp18nq4kphki81gk-pdf.pdf |publisher=FIFA|website=FIFA.com |access-date=12 July 2023 |page=47|archive-date=12 July 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230712031402/https://digitalhub.fifa.com/m/1627ed47ecfb3a7e/original/gkpaxp18nq4kphki81gk-pdf.pdf|url-status=live}} She is the only daughter (the second of seven children), her father, a Senegalese military man, and her mother, a teacher. Her identity as a black Muslim woman is important to her.{{cite web | last=Holmes | first=Tracey | title=FIFA secretary-general Fatma Samoura focused on culture, equality and breaking the FIFA mould | website=ABC News (Australia) | date=11 July 2023 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-12/fifa-boss-fatma-samoura-focused-on-culture-equality/102583090 | access-date=12 July 2023}}

She attended the University of Lyon, attaining a master's degree in English and Spanish, and subsequently gained a postgraduate degree in international relations and trade at the Institut d'Etudes Supérieures Spécialisées (IECS, aka Strasbourg Business School). Her home languages are Wolof and French, and she is also fluent in English, Spanish, and Italian.

Samoura worked for eight years for a leading fertiliser company, occupying a position that had traditionally been taken by men.

After joining the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) at their headquarters in Rome in 1995 as a senior logistics officer, she served as Country Director for WFP in Djibouti (2000–2005) and Cameroon{{Cite web |url=http://allafrica.com/stories/200710300741.html |title=WFP assures food aid to Cameroon|access-date=10 November 2007|archive-date=1 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121001055915/http://allafrica.com/stories/200710300741.html|url-status=live}} (2005–2007), and altogether worked in seven countries, the others being Chad, Guinea, Niger, Madagascar (United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, 2010–2016) and Nigeria (United Nations Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative, January–June 2016).

On 1 November 2007, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in consultation with the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes, appointed her as Deputy Humanitarian Coordinator (DHC) for eastern Chad. She was based in the town of Abéché, located approximately 80 kilometres west of the border with the Sudan's conflict-torn Darfur region. In 2007, Chad was hosting over 280,000 refugees and over 170,000 internally displaced persons, most in the eastern region,{{Cite web |url=https://appablog.wordpress.com/2007/11/09/new-deputy-humanitarian-coordinator-deployed-to-eastern-chad/ |title=New deputy humanitarian coordinator deployed to eastern Chad |date=9 November 2007|access-date=5 September 2020|archive-date=12 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012143908/https://appablog.wordpress.com/2007/11/09/new-deputy-humanitarian-coordinator-deployed-to-eastern-chad/|url-status=live}} and she was tasked with working for their return.{{Cite web |url=https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/report/76471/chad-ambitious-plans-get-90000-displaced-return-home |title=Ambitious plans to get 90,000 displaced to return home |date=29 January 2008 |website=The New Humanitarian|access-date=5 September 2020|archive-date=13 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190613095755/http://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/report/76471/chad-ambitious-plans-get-90000-displaced-return-home|url-status=live}} The official's functions consist in providing support and guidance to a team composed of seven United Nations agencies and over 40 international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in eastern Chad.

During her career at the UN, she became used to negotiating with local war lords and heads of state.

Samoura met Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, in 2015 in Madagascar at a qualifying match for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. When she heard that the position of secretary general of FIFA was coming up, she emailed Infantino, who appointed her as the first female secretary general of FIFA at the FIFA congress in Mexico City on 13 May 2016. She was to succeed the disgraced Jerome Valcke, who had been banned from activities relating to football for 12 years,{{cite web | title=Fifa appoints female secretary general | website=BBC Sport | date=13 May 2016 | url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/36289757 | access-date=12 July 2023}}{{cite web | last=Payton | first=Matt | title=Fifa appoints its first female secretary general | website=The Independent | date=13 May 2016 | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news/fatma-samoura-fifa-appoints-its-first-female-secretary-general-to-succeed-the-disgraced-jerome-valcke-a7028916.html | access-date=12 July 2023}} and replaced acting Markus Kattner, who was also implicated in corruption.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/14/sports/soccer/fifa-appoints-a-woman-fatma-samoura-as-secretary-general.html |title=FIFA Appoints a Woman, Fatma Samoura, as Secretary General |first=Andrew |last=Das |newspaper=The New York Times |date=13 May 2016 |access-date=1 March 2017|archive-date=18 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160518225043/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/14/sports/soccer/fifa-appoints-a-woman-fatma-samoura-as-secretary-general.html|url-status=live}}{{cite web | title=Fifa official sacked over bonus pay | website=BBC Sport | date=23 May 2016 | url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/36364768 | access-date=12 July 2023}} The role had been occupied by white men for 100 years before her appointment. On 20 June 2016 she assumed the role of FIFA secretary general,{{cite web |url=https://www.aipsmedia.com/aips/pages/articles/2016/18972.html|first=Keir |last=Radnedge |title=Testing times ahead at FIFA as Samoura makes an official start|access-date=15 July 2016|archive-date=15 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160715143737/http://www.aipsmedia.com/2016/06/20/18972/fifa-samoura|url-status=live}} responsible for overseeing the commercial and operational side of the organisation.

Samoura declared on 3 November 2016 that players for England, Scotland, and Wales would be punished if they wore the remembrance poppy on Remembrance Day, as FIFA classes it as a political symbol. "Britain is not the only country that has been suffering as a result of war", she said. "Syria is an example. My own African continent has been torn by war for years. The only question is 'why are we doing exceptions for just one country and not the rest of the world?'". UK Prime Minister Theresa May condemned FIFA for the decision.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/02/fifa-poppy-ban-utterly-outrageous-says-theresa-may/ |title=Fifa poppy ban 'utterly outrageous' says Theresa May |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=2 November 2016 |access-date=13 January 2017 |archive-date=24 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161124094609/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/02/fifa-poppy-ban-utterly-outrageous-says-theresa-may/ |url-status=live}}{{cite news |author=Owen Gibson |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/02/england-players-to-defy-fifa-ruling-and-wear-poppies-in-armistice-day-match |title=England and Scotland players to defy Fifa and wear poppies in Armistice Day match |work=The Guardian |access-date=13 January 2017 |archive-date=11 January 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170111141758/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/02/england-players-to-defy-fifa-ruling-and-wear-poppies-in-armistice-day-match |url-status=live}}

During her time as secretary general, Samoura oversaw the reordering of the organisational structure of FIFA in 2016, including the appointment of deputy secretaries general, and the creation of a new women's football division.{{cite web | title=Senegalese Fatma Samoura to step down as Fifa secretary general | website=TRT Afrika|date=15 June 2023 | url=http://www.trtafrika.com/sports/senegalese-fatma-samoura-to-step-down-as-fifa-secretary-general-13626759 | access-date=12 July 2023}}{{cite web | title=FIFA restructures its administration to build a stronger and more sustainable organisation | website=FIFA | date=8 July 2016 | url=https://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/organisation/news/fifa-restructures-its-administration-to-build-a-stronger-and-more-sust-2811515 | access-date=12 July 2023}}

On 14 June 2023, she announced she would be stepping down as FIFA secretary general, and tendered her resignation to the president, to take effect on 31 December 2023.{{cite web | title=Fatma Samoura to step down as FIFA Secretary General| website=FIFA|series=Media release | date=15 June 2023 | url=https://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/organisation/media-releases/fatma-samoura-to-step-down-as-fifa-secretary-general | access-date=12 July 2023}}

In July 2023, Samoura travelled to Australia in NAIDOC Week, ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, learning about the culture of Australian First Nations people in the Top End and attending a football clinic in Darwin, Northern Territory. She has invited 50 Indigenous children and their carers to attend a World Cup game in Brisbane with her.

She has said that her "last battle, and one that she will continue to fight even after her retirement from FIFA, is to make sure that we will root racism out of football".

In 2018, Forbes ranked her Number 1 in their Most Powerful Women in International Sports list,{{Cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/pictures/5aabea644bbe6f0fa82880d6/no-1-fatma-samba-diouf-sa/#7401ccb43c26 |title=No. 1: Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura - pg.2 |last=Settimi |first=Christina |website=Forbes|access-date=29 March 2018|archive-date=29 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180329185544/https://www.forbes.com/pictures/5aabea644bbe6f0fa82880d6/no-1-fatma-samba-diouf-sa/#7401ccb43c26|url-status=live}} and the BBC listed her as one of their 100 women.{{Cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-46225037 |title=BBC 100 Women 2018: Who is on the list? |date=19 November 2018 |work=BBC News|access-date=21 November 2018 |language=en-GB|archive-date=29 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191029040102/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-46225037|url-status=live}}

When Samoura visited the AU Pavilion at the Expo 2020 in Dubai in 2021 with other FIFA Officials, the AU Expo Commissioner General, Levi Uche Madueke, said of Samoura, "She is a living testimony of the great human spirit that women across the African continent have, and her astute leadership should serve as a model worth replicating as we build towards the Africa we want, which involves the development of capable and credible leaders, especially amongst our women and youth".{{Cite web |title=African Union Hosts FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura at the AU Pavilion {{!}} Union africaine |url=https://au.int/fr/node/41045 |access-date=2023-02-21 |website=au.int}}

Samoura is married and has three children.

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Category:Senegalese officials of the United Nations

Category:1962 births

Category:Living people

Category:Senegalese diplomats

Category:FIFA officials