Fatma Samoura

Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura (born 9 September 1962) is a Senegalese former diplomat and senior executive. She was appointed as the first female secretary general of FIFA by president Gianni Infantino and assumed her post on 20 June 2016. Previously she worked in various positions at the United Nations, mostly of a humanitarian nature. In June 2023, she tendered her resignation as secretary general, which took effect on 31 December 2023.

Early life and education Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura was born in Dakar, in the recently independent Senegal, on 9 September 1962. She is the only daughter (the second of seven children), her father, a Senegalese military man, and her mother, a teacher. (2005–2007 and she was tasked with working for their return. The official's functions consist in providing support and guidance to a team composed of seven United Nations agencies and over 40 international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in eastern Chad.

FIFA Samoura met Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, in 2015 in Madagascar at a qualifying match for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. When she heard that the position of secretary general of FIFA was coming up, she emailed Infantino, and replaced acting Markus Kattner, who was also implicated in corruption. The role had been occupied by white men for 100 years before her appointment. responsible for overseeing the commercial and operational side of the organisation.

During her time as secretary general, Samoura oversaw the reordering of the organisational structure of FIFA in 2016, including the appointment of deputy secretaries general, and the creation of a new women's football division.

On 14 June 2023, she announced she would be stepping down as FIFA secretary general, and tendered her resignation to the president, to take effect on 31 December 2023. and the BBC listed her as one of their 100 women.

When Samoura visited the AU Pavilion at the Expo 2020 in Dubai in 2021 with other FIFA Officials, the AU Expo Commissioner General, Levi Uche Madueke, said of Samoura, "She is a living testimony of the great human spirit that women across the African continent have, and her astute leadership should serve as a model worth replicating as we build towards the Africa we want, which involves the development of capable and credible leaders, especially amongst our women and youth".

Personal life Samoura is married and has three children.