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FIFA's Samoura says encountered racism, sexism
FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura addresses the media after a meeting of the FIFA Council at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, October 13, 2016. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
26/05/2018
LONDON (Reuters) - FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura said she encountered sexism and racism when she took over the job, with some in soccer opposed to a "black woman" taking a senior post at the global governing body.
The 55-year-old Senegalese was the first woman to hold a senior role at FIFA when she took over from Jerome Valcke, who was sacked in January 2016 as part of the fall-out from the corruption scandal that rocked the organisation.
Samoura said she had "broken the glass ceiling" in a "male-dominated organisation", adding "they are used to me now".
"There are people who don't think that a black woman should be leading the administration of FIFA. It's sometimes as simple as that," Samoura told the BBC.
"It is something we are fighting on a daily basis on the pitch - I don't want any racist person around me.
"Nobody asks a man when he takes a position if he's competent to do the job. They just assume that he can do the job.
"For a woman to make her way up to the top - you need to prove every single day that you are the best fit for that position."
(Writing by Nick Mulvenney in Sydney, editing by Greg Stutchbury)
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