Fifa secretary Samoura to grace Cecafa women's final

Fatma Diouf Samoura

Fifa Secretary-General Fatma Diouf Samoura.

Photo credit: File | AFP

What you need to know:

  • A career diplomat, former United Nations employee, and first female Secretary-General of football's world governing body, Samoura is accompanied on her Kenyan trip by Sarai Bareman, Fifa's chief women's officer.
  • Samoura is the latest high-profile football boss in town since shamed Confederation of African Football (Caf) president Ahmad Ahmad came calling in 2017.

Fifa Secretary-General Fatma Diouf Samoura will be the chief guest in Thursday's Council of East and Central Africa (Cecafa) Women's club Championship final set for either the Nyayo Stadium or Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani.

The 58-year old, considered the most powerful woman in football, made a low-key arrival in Nairobi Wednesday evening and is set to hand over the trophy and winners medals to the winner of the tournament's final pitting hosts Vihiga Queens against Central Bank of Ethiopia.

A career diplomat, former United Nations employee, and first female Secretary-General of football's world governing body, Samoura is accompanied on her Kenyan trip by Sarai Bareman, Fifa's chief women's officer.

Samoura is the latest high-profile football boss in town since shamed Confederation of African Football (Caf) president Ahmad Ahmad came calling in 2017.

Before that, Ahmad's predecessor Issa Hayatou also toured the Kenyan capital and met Deputy President William Ruto to discuss the country's aborted bid to host the 2018 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN).

Samoura's visit not only indicates a thumbs up to Football Kenya Federation (FKF) president Nick Mwendwa's administration, but also best emphasizes Fifa's $1 billion ( about Sh109 billion) global investment in women's football between 2019 and 2022.

"Fifa and Caf (Confederation of African Football) have done well to support women football," observed Nick Musonye, a veteran football administrator and former Cecafa secretary-general.

"We appreciate the support and call upon more technical support. We need to train women coaches and managers so as to develop the game at all levels. The reason you see men coaching women teams is that not many women are qualified for the role."

A Fifa spokesperson explained last year that the funding to develop women football, which enabled the world body bankroll a number of competitions around the world, would not be affected by the Covid-19 crisis.

Fifa, through Caf, funded the Cecafa women club championship to the tune of Sh35 million. The world body will also fund the Women U20 regional championship in Kampala next month, and the Women Challenge Cup in Djibouti come December.

With an estimated annual budget of $5 billion (About Sh550 billion) this year, Fifa is, alongside the governments and corporate world, the biggest funders of African football.

But there have been concerns that the grants from the Zurich-based body to local football associations- to the tune of Sh200 million each year - are mainly used to buy loyalty and stamp up western interests.