FIFA’s alternative of Brazilian supermodel Adriana Lima as its first world fan ambassador 5 months earlier than the Women’s World Cup was described as “golden deaf” by the previous chief of the soccer physique’s activity drive for girls’s soccer on Tuesday.
Lima’s appointment was to “develop, promote and participate in a number of global initiatives”, FIFA introduced on Monday earlier than the previous Victoria’s Secret runway mannequin helped current the fan awards at its annual awards ceremony in Paris. was completed.
“Seriously, FIFA, is this the fan engagement ambassador we need as we approach (the Women’s World Cup)?” wrote Moya Dodd, who was a part of the co-hosting bid marketing campaign for her native Australia and New Zealand, on her Twitter account.
Dodd, a former FIFA govt committee member and longtime advocate for girls’s soccer, used the hashtag “TonDiff” and posted the glam photograph from the profile of Lima’s Twitter account, which has 2.4 million followers.
Dodd, a former Australia nationwide crew participant, additionally recalled current hypothesis that FIFA might signal on the Saudi Arabian Tourism Board as an official sponsor of the month-long match beginning July 20.
Spain’s Alexia Puteles receives the Best FIFA Women’s Player award from FIFA President Gianni Infantino through the Best FIFA Football Awards ceremony in Paris, France, Monday, February 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Michelle Euler)
“Honestly appalled by the marketing strategy. First FIFA wants to send LGBTQ-friendly audience to ‘Visit Saudi’,” Dodd wrote. “Who is it really targeting now?”
Lima was photographed with its president Gianni Infantino at FIFA’s gala occasion in Paris on Monday and posted on Twitter that his new position “means the world to me”.
She posted to her 15.4 million followers on Instagram: “It is a great honor to be part of the FIFA family.”
“As a fan myself, I look forward to connecting this family on a greater level to the life of this beautiful sport: the fans!” she wrote.
FIFA didn’t specify particulars on Monday about initiatives involving Lima, nor whether or not it might embrace the most important marquee girls’s match ever, which now has 32 groups.
“When you meet Adriana, you immediately feel her warmth, kindness and how sensitive and passionate she is about our game,” Infantino mentioned in a FIFA assertion on Monday.
“She lives and breathes ‘football’ and that is why she can be an excellent link between FIFA and the fans around the world,” he added.
FIFA mentioned Lima is a “supermodel, actress and businesswoman”, however gave no particulars about her ties to the game apart from being a fan. Lima posted his condolences following Pele’s demise in December.
Infantino and Dodd served collectively on FIFA’s ruling committee for greater than a yr after being elected in 2016.
She was the primary lady to characterize the Asian Football Confederation at FIFA in 2013 and gained a repute as an unbiased voice through the presidency of Sepp Blatter. Dodd misplaced his re-election bid 4 years later to an opponent from Bangladesh.
His newest criticism of FIFA follows an op-ed article he wrote for an Australian newspaper 4 weeks in the past. She recommended that FIFA is asking LGBTQ gamers and followers to go to Saudi Arabia “to deport them to a jurisdiction where they are treated as criminals.”
Dodd additionally wrote that she was “thrilled by the progress of women’s football there (in Saudi Arabia) in recent times.”
The pending “Visit Saudi” sponsor deal additionally prompted the soccer unions of Australia and New Zealand to induce FIFA to not log off on the deal.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
