Face To Face Fatma Samoura

FIFA’s secretary-general shares her thoughts on the first 12 months of her tenure and what the future holds in store for football’s governing body

- Keir Radnedge

So, what does Fatma Samoura really do? Not what FIFA secretary-generals used to do, that’s for sure...

FIFA reforms made certain of that by clipping the secretary-general’s wings. They also clipped the wings of the president, but Gianni Infantino found a way around that, albeit with the democratic approval of council and congress.

Secretary-general is a big title, copied from the United Nations and embraced increasingly by other international sports federations in pursuit of self-agrandisement. Under Samoura’s high-profile predecessor, Jerome Valcke, it was a licence to spend at least a week or more every month out of the office giving prospective World Cup hosts “a kick up the backside”, negotiating sponsorship deals with the biggest multinationals, and sorting out the World Cup ticketing and hospitality contracts (which eventually brought him down).

These days the job’s prime focus – apart from embracing ambassadorial essentials – is more concerned with internal management and imposing as strict accountability as is possible on the worldwide development projects which devour most of FIFA’s income.

Critics who believe FIFA’s credibility has been fatally undermined by the excesses of the Sepp Blatter regime, and judge it no longer fit for purpose, have yet to come up with a new model to promote and develop the game.

Such an idea would not even occur to Samoura. Her appointment, just over a year ago, was an Infantino-inspired shock for council, congress and the wider football world. But the former UN official has no illusions about the job, the mistakes of the past or the media scrutiny.

Her first year has been a sharp learning curve.

How have you found your first year as secretary-general?