Lydia Nsekera Becomes FIFA’s first Female Executive Committee Member

Lydia Nsekera has made history by becoming the first women to be elected to FIFA’s Executive Committee earlier today in Mauritius.

The Burundi Football Association President and International Olympic Committee (IOC) member received 95 of the 203 valid votes. She is the first female to receive voting rights in the 109 years of FIFA’s existence. She has been elected on a four-year mandate.

The 46-year-old had been believed to be favourite for the role, having held an interim mandate on the Executive Committee since May 2012. Nsekera’s rivals were the Asian Football Confederation vice-president, Australia’s Moya Dodd, who received 70 votes, and the Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association secretary general Sonia Bien-Aime, who received 38 votes. Both will join the Executive Committee as co-opted members on one-year terms.

Nsereka said: “I will inspire women to believe they can lead, I will push them to let their girls play football because it is a school of life, and I will support women in the member associations.”

The appointment sees the fulfilment of President Sepp Blatter’s promise to add female representation to FIFA’s Executive Committee as part of his reform process after being re-elected in 2011.