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The Senegalese is reported to be on her way out of the world football governing body after assuming her powerful role in 2016.
FIFA secretary general Fatma Samoura is set to leave her position in the coming months.
Samoura was appointed in 2016, becoming FIFA’s first female secretary general and second in command to President Gianni Infantino. The appointment made her the world football governing body’s most senior woman.
The Senegalese replaced Jerome Valcke after he was found guilty of misconduct and banned from football-related activity for 12 years.
Samoura is currently still working for FIFA and was in New Zealand on business this week, but will leave in the coming months, as per The Athletic.
The circumstances of her departure and what she intends to do next remain unclear.
The 60-year-old was nicknamed the ‘headmistress’ of CAF when, in 2019, she took over the running of Africa’s football governing body when former president Ahmad Ahmad was embroiled in a corruption scandal.
Samoura was designated general delegate for Africa and worked with Ahmad as well as a team of experts to, among other things, oversee a forensic audit of CAF.
Beyond the audit, she was to “help to conclusively accelerate the implementation of a reform process destined to ensure that CAF functions with transparency, efficiency while abiding to the highest governance standards”.
Ahmad was then under investigation by FIFA’s ethics committee, having been in the eye of the storm over allegations of corruption, financial misappropriation, and sexual harassment. The Madagascan was later kicked out of office and banned for five years over the scandals, with South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe installed as CAF president in March 2021.
Samoura, named by Forbes magazine as the most powerful woman in international sports in 2018, was the subject of an investigation that year into an alleged conflict of interest concerning Morocco’s 2026 World Cup bid.
She was cleared of any wrongdoing and dismissed the claims as “laughable” and “unfortunate”.
Additional information from The Athletic
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