Fifa secretary general Fatma Samoura pays courtesy call on Minister Zialor |27 June 2023
Fifa secretary general Samoura signing the ball (Photo: Neil Sirame)
Outgoing Fédération Internationale de Football Association secretary general Fatma Samoura paid a courtesy call on the Minister for Youth, Sports and Family Affairs Marie-Celine Zialor at the Family House, Bel Eau, yesterday morning. She was accompanied by the president of the Seychelles Football Federation Elvis Chetty.
In an interview with the media, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (Fifa) secretary general Fatma Samoura said it was an opportunity for the minister and her to talk about women’s football in Seychelles and to see how ready and prepared the government of Seychelles is to host the 2025 Beach Soccer World Cup.
Minister Zialor and Fifa’s secretary general also spoke about the development of women’s football in the country. “It was a chance to take stock of how fast women’s football has evolved over the past two years,” said secretary general Samoura.
She added that she has received a positive feedback from Minister Zialor on her strong willingness to continue developing women’s football and making football accessible to all and also to use it as a big game-changer in Seychelles.
Ms Samoura took the opportunity to invite Minister Zialor to the second women’s convention which is scheduled for July 18-19, just before the start of the Fifa Women’s World Cup co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand from July 20 to August 20, 2023.
Senegal-born Samoura became Fifa's first female and non-European secretary general seven years ago and under her leadership women’s football has gained new impetus. “I joined Fifa at a time of turmoil. Seven years later I am proud to say Fifa is now better governed. I am grateful I was able to contribute to help Fifa to grow the game at all levels,” said Ms Samoura.
The secretary general spoke about the progress of women’s football around the globe in the last the seven years and the increase from 24 to 32 teams at the forthcoming World Cup. “I could cite many initiatives by Fifa, but time is limited. We are working to bring to Fifa, tournaments such as the Club World Cup, Beach soccer World Cup and Futsal World Cup for female teams, thus improving human rights aspect into the game,” said Ms Samoura.
According to Fifa, Ms Samoura played a pivotal role in transforming the organisation, restoring its credibility and breaking down barriers.
Speaking to the media, Minister Zialor, on her part, mentioned that she wanted to meet with the secretary general firstly because African women rarely hold such high positions in huge organisations such as Fifa.
“Our meet was not an official call, but out of courtesy. The ministry together with the National Sports Council brought forward our agenda to evolve women’s football even more and football in schools for us to have better footballers in the future,” said Minister Zialor.
The minister was made aware that Fifa is planning to launch the U17s women’s World Cup. “Implementing the ‘Football for school programme’ will help retain more female football players and seeing small African countries like Zambia achieving big things, I believe our chances to qualify is there”, added the minister.
The minister noted that with the continuous support from Fifa and the hard work of the Seychelles Football Federation they are positive about the progress of Seychelles’ football, be it women’s and men’s.
Minister Zialor received an official match ball of the women’s’ world Cup featured with the latest goal-line technology as a gift and the ball’s design represents the indigenous people in Oceania where the design was originated.
Neil Sirame
