FIFA official Fatma Samoura leaving after 7 years as pioneering woman in football

Samoura will stay in the job she has held since 2016 through this year’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and leave at the end of the year, FIFA said.

FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura poses during a photo session in Paris on May 21, 2023. | Photo Credit: AFP

FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura is leaving after seven years as the highest-profile woman working in the world football, the governing body said Wednesday.

Samoura will stay in the job she has held since 2016 through this year’s Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and leave at the end of the year, FIFA said.

The 60-year-old former United Nations official from Senegal was an unexpected hire seven years ago, soon after the election of Gianni Infantino as FIFA president.

She became the first woman, first Black person, first Muslim and first non-European to be FIFA’s top administrator.

However, Infantino’s hands-on style as an executive president has meant Samoura has often struggled to establish a clearly defined public role in the $2 million-a-year job.

Samoura’s time in FIFA included helping oversee men’s World Cups played in Russia and Qatar and awarding the 2026 edition that will be played in the United States, Canada and Mexico.