FIFA’s choice of Brazilian supermodel Adriana Lima as its first global fan ambassador five months before the Women’s World Cup was described Tuesday as “tone deaf” by the former leader of the football body’s task force for women’s soccer.
Lima’s appointment to “develop, promote and participate in several global initiatives” was announced by FIFA on Monday hours before the former Victoria’s Secret runway model helped present the fan prize in Paris at its annual award ceremony.
“Seriously, FIFA, is this the fan engagement ambassador we need as the (Women’s World Cup) approaches?” wrote Moya Dodd, who was part of the co-hosting bid campaign for her native Australia and New Zealand, on her Twitter account.
Dodd, a former FIFA executive committee member and longtime advocate for women’s soccer, used the hashtag “tonedeaf” and posted the glamor photo from the profile of Lima’s Twitter account that has 2.4 million followers.
A former Australia national-team player, Dodd also recalled recent speculation FIFA could sign the Saudi Arabia tourism board as an official sponsor of the month-long tournament that starts July 20.
“Honestly baffled by the marketing strategy. First FIFA wants to send an LGBTQ-friendly audience to ‘Visit Saudi’,” Dodd wrote. “Now it’s targeting who exactly?”
Lima was photographed Monday in Paris at the FIFA gala event with its president Gianni Infantino and posted on Twitter her new role “means the world to me.”
She also 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 hope to connect at a greater level this family to the life of this beautiful sport: the fans!” she wrote.
FIFA did not specify details Monday of the projects involving Lima, nor if it would involve the biggest-ever marquee women’s tournament which now has 32 teams.
“When you get to meet Adriana, you feel right away her warmth, kindness, and how approachable and passionate she is about our game,” Infantino said Monday in the FIFA statement.
Adriana Lima attends The Fashion Awards 2021 at the Royal Albert Hall on November 29, 2021 in London, England. (Photo by Kate Green/BFC/Getty Images for BFC)
“She lives and breathes ‘futebol’ and that is also why she can be an excellent link between FIFA and fans worldwide,” he said.
FIFA noted Lima is a “supermodel, actress and businesswoman” but offered no details about her links to the sport besides being a fan. Lima posted her condolences after Pelé’s death in December.
Infantino and Dodd served together on FIFA’s ruling committee for more than a year after he was elected in 2016.
She was the first woman, in 2013, to represent the Asian soccer confederation at FIFA and gained a reputation as an independent voice during the presidency of Sepp Blatter. Dodd lost her re-election bid four years later to an opponent from Bangladesh.
Her latest criticism of FIFA follows an op-ed article she wrote for an Australian newspaper four weeks ago. She suggested that FIFA asking LGBTQ players and fans to visit Saudi Arabia was “to send them to a jurisdiction where they are regarded as criminals.”
Dodd also wrote then she was “thrilled by the progress women’s football has made there (in Saudi Arabia) in recent times.”
The pending “Visit Saudi” sponsor deal also provoked the soccer federations of Australia and New Zealand to urge FIFA not to sign the agreement.
Kewell
Roar Rookie
Football are getting as woke as the cancel brigade. And now they are conflicted between politics and football.
Ad-O
Guest
Qatar bunged bribes at FIFA, UEFA, and the European Leagues, with sums of money equivalent to the GDP of New Zealand. I'm sure if Albo did the same he could do whatever he wants with the WC as well.
Ad-O
Guest
Wrong. Banning alcohol would be a horrible step.
Munro Mike
Roar Rookie
It was pretty well the norm back then.......both men and women; the 'men for all seasons' in the AFL.........even such that before the Athens Olympics we had "The Athens Dream: A Special Issue of Not Only Black + White Magazine".
Marcel
Guest
Stevo.....I haven't got the first idea who Ms Lima is...and on that basis..I'd assume her "ambassadorship" will be limited to a few IG updates around the time on the tournament, specifically for her South American audience....maybe a picture with a Joey. Can't quite see the problem myself....but then I'm not actively looking for one like Mz Dodd. Meanwhile, in breaking news from the Ukraine.....
Marcel
Guest
Well it was announced with some fanfare about a year ago...and discussed at length on this site....in particular the possibility of getting in the ear of Ms Paluszczuk re future investment in Qld football. The fact that these ambassadors have been promptly forgotten is probably a good indicator how meaningless said appointments are.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Thats the you win the prize category ambassador. World cup ambassador is what they need, the general public have not even heard of the legacy 23.
Stevo
Roar Rookie
"So models can’t be football fans?" Valid question. However ..... the person you choose to promote an event is important. Choosing a pouting, runway model as a women's FIFA WC ambassador is not far away from the Matildas getting their kit off for a 1999 the calendar pic. "Alicia Ferguson-Cook was one of the athletes photographed. Her shot still hangs on the wall of her family home in Brisbane and the 37-year-old has no regrets. But she says the fact it would never happen today shows how far women's soccer has come." https://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/it-s-been-20-years-since-the-1999-matildas-posed-nude-what-s-changed-20190604-p51u8w.html
Coastyboi
Guest
Tottie Goldsmith. Elegance, sass, & warmth. I’d vote for Tottie.
Marcel
Guest
.....Have they appointed anyone ? https://www.footballaustralia.com.au/legacy-23-ambassador-program Though it does appear that appoint is all that has been done so far.
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
The difference is that Qatar had the FIFA board in their back pockets from way, way back.
Redcap
Roar Guru
Maybe so - I'm just saying the decisions are being made by FIFA. The Australian Federal Government has no jurisdiction over FIFA.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Albo is a joke, there is no way the womens world cup sponsorship by Australian Tourism to replace the Saudi one would be that expensive, spending a cent on football is beyond him, he is an NRL/AFL stooge like the rest of them.
Redcap
Roar Guru
This is all bizarre at best, but it's FIFA - a law unto themselves. There's certainly nothing Albo can do about it, even if he wanted to.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
The headline is wrong appointed by FIFA as a fan ambassador, Qatar seemed to do whatever they wanted and apponted Cahill an ambassador more than a year out. So what is the FFA here doing, have they appointed anyone, its like they are laying over for FIFA. What about Albanese why would you allow another countrys tourism to sponsor your world cup this guys seems another stooge already he had backed the biggest waste of money the Olympics with billlions, SYdney Olympics got hardly a dollar from the federal government.
TheSecretScout
Roar Guru
looks like a great choice to me lol (not sure of which club side she follows, but shes been photographed a lot of times in the brazillian jersey) i thought basketball may be her sport instead, since she was married to marko jaric
Simoc
Roar Rookie
But they can decide not to sell alcohol at the venues. That would be a positive step. I think Dodd is odd.
Anthony Ferguson
Guest
Could been worse. Could have got some bogan from MAFS.
Marcel
Guest
So models can't be football fans? Is this a form of discrimination from Dodd? How about someone in dungarees and sensible shoes then. Whatever happened to that sapphic assault investigation ?
Roberto Bettega
Roar Rookie
It's an unfortunate aspect of hosting these sorts of events. The host nation has virtually zero say in any aspect of it.