Fatma Samoura to step down as FIFA secretary general at the end of the year

Senegalese Fatma Samoura, the first woman to become FIFA’s general secretary, will step down at the end of 2023, the organization announced in a statement on Wednesday.

Fatma, who resigned to “spend more time with her family”, played a “key role in transforming the organization and contributed to restoring the federation’s credibility and breaking down barriers”, adds the FIFA note.

“Working at FIFA was the best decision of my life (…) Today, FIFA is a more open, accountable and transparent organization, with better governance. I will leave FIFA full of pride and satisfaction”, declared the FIFA director. 60 years.

The Senegalese, who was also the first non-European person to hold such a position at FIFA, thanked the organization’s president, Gianni Infantino, for his “trust and understanding” and highlighted that it was “a pleasure to work with the person who transformed FIFA”. .

Fatma Samoura to step down as FIFA Secretary General

📰➡️ https://t.co/kdVRVSGdtu pic.twitter.com/9urj3AgEYC

—FIFA Media (@fifamedia) June 14, 2023

Fatma will step down at the end of the year following the Women’s World Cup, which takes place in Australia and New Zealand from 20 July to 20 August.

“For now, I’m fully focused on preparing for the Women’s World Cup,” she explained.

FIFA has rightly pointed out that since Fatma’s arrival in 2016, “women’s football has grown in an unprecedented way”.

“It was a privilege and an honor to work with a football pioneer. From the moment I met her, I knew that her collaboration with FIFA would be exceptional (…) Fatma will continue to contribute to the development of football and its social values,” said Infantino .

After a two-decade career at the UN as a humanitarian coordinator in Djibouti, Cameroon, Chad, Guinea, Niger, Madagascar and Nigeria, Fatma Samoura arrived at FIFA to replace the Frenchman Jérôme Valcke, who was impeached after several corruption scandals that also cost him his job. federation president, Sepp Blatter.