New FIFA secretary-general Fatma Samoura has officially started work, becoming the first woman and non-European to hold the post at the scandal-tainted organization.
Samoura was appointed last month in a surprise move by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who has sought to repair the reputation of world soccer’s governing body since over taking over from disgraced former FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
A 54-year-old Senegalese national, Samoura worked at the UN for more than two decades, serving primarily in Africa. In an interview conducted by FIFA,
Samoura said her top priority was filling senior positions, including the roles of chief financial officer and chief compliance officer.
Her two predecessors as secretary-genral, Jerome Valcke and Markus Kattner, were both sacked over corruption allegations.
Valcke is the target of a criminal investigation in Switzerland, along with Blatter.
Following a string of high-profile corruption scandals over the past year, which have seen many of the most powerful names in soccer management brought down, Samoura said boosting morale at FIFA is crucial.
“My second priority is to try, as much possible, to focus on the staff, who have been going through extreme stress over the last 12 months because of the corruption scandals,” she said in the FIFA interview after her first official day in her post on Monday.
She also touted the implementation of a major reform package at FIFA, which is designed to clean up the graft that plagued the Blatter era.
Samoura has been given added authority under those reforms to function more like a chief executive officer.
“I want to inject diversity, more equity, a better governance structure, a stronger monitoring and evaluation system, and an obligation to inform and report on the good deeds of FIFA,” she said.
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