FIFA’s first female Secretary General, Fatma Samoura says women have the potential of sending a strong message to the rest of the world through sport in general and football in particular. 

Speaking two days before the International Women’s Day which the world is celebrating on Wednesday, the second most powerful football person in the world, Samoura said what was witnessed at the last Fifa Women’s World Cup in Canada and the enthusiasm for the next World Cup in France gives the impression that football is definitely the right tool for social change.

“Any society that tries to implement sustainable changes for a more inclusive world can do that more with football. With football we can achieve greater changes in record time.

Football is a sport with a global reach that can bring men and women together. Gender equality is about empowering women and allowing them to be self-expressive and tell the rest of the world that a conservative society is not the way to go when you want to promote sport,” she said.

Fifa’s first female secretary general was speaking to Fifa.com at the end of a third Fifa hosted conference for Equality and Inclusion on Monday.

Samoura, who visited Zimbabwe recently in the company of the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, said her appointment was a clear indicator that football was embracing diversity and was hopeful that member association and confederations will also be inspired to have confidence in women taking up football posts.