Sarai Bareman

Sarai Bareman is a Samoan New Zealand–born former footballer of Samoan and Dutch descent who represented Samoa. She is the current Chief Women's Football Officer for FIFA. She attended Massey High School in West Auckland, New Zealand.[1]

Sarai Bareman
Born
New Zealand
NationalityNew Zealand / Samoan
OccupationChief Women's Football Officer
EmployerFIFA

Career


As a player, Bareman played club football, based in Auckland, New Zealand, before moving to Samoa and representing the Samoa women's national football team.[2]

As a football administrator, Bareman also started her journey in Samoa after leaving a 10-year career in the banking and finance industry in New Zealand. She was first employed as the finance manager for the Football Federation of Samoa, responsible for all financial matters of the national association. This appointment came at a critical time in the association's history, as they had recently been suspended by FIFA for misuse of funds by the previous administration.[3]

After a short time in the role, Bareman was promoted to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), where she took over the reigns of the national governing body and played an instrumental role in rebuilding the sport in the country. Bareman became a prominent figure in the Pacific sporting landscape after speaking at the Pacific Youth and Sports Conference held in 2013 about her experiences as female leader in a male dominated industry.[4]

In 2014, Bareman moved back to Auckland to take up a role as the Deputy Secretary General for the Oceania Football Confederation.[5]

After the 2015 FIFA corruption case,[6] Bareman was appointed as the only women on the FIFA Reforms Committee. As part of the reform, Bareman advocated strongly for increasing the number of women in leadership roles within FIFA and football organisations, as well as more resourcing and prioritisation of the women's game.[7] The reforms were approved in February 2016 at the FIFA Congress and later in the year, she was appointed as FIFA's first Chief Women's Football Officer [8][9]

In 2018, Bareman conducted the draw for the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in France,[10] her first World Cup at the helm of global women's football. Later that year Bareman also oversaw the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in Uruguay.[11] In 2019, Bareman played a key role in the delivery of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France.[12]

Bareman also led the development of FIFA's first ever global strategy for women's football, which was launched in October 2018.[13]

In 2023 Bareman went on record to encourage federations to properly invest FIFA allocated funds towards their women's national teams.[14]

References
  1. "Sarai Bareman: The Kiwi-Samoan running world football". 11 February 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  2. "Kiwi Sarai Bareman appointed Fifa's first chief women's football officer". Stuff.co.nz. 12 October 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  3. FIFA SUSPENDS SAMOA
  4. "Fight for gender equality fuels Samoa Football's Bareman's fire".
  5. "OFC appoints Sarai Bareman as Operations Manager". Oceania Football Confederation. 4 August 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
  6. London, Owen Gibson Damien Gayle in (27 May 2015). "Fifa officials arrested on corruption charges as World Cup inquiry launched" – via www.theguardian.com.
  7. "Who We Are - News - FIFA Congress approves landmark reforms - FIFA.com". www.fifa.com. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020.
  8. "Chief Women's Football Officer named". 12 October 2016.
  9. "New Zealander appointed FIFA Chief Women's officer". RNZ. 12 October 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
  10. "FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup: Nigeria In Tough Group". The Eagle. 8 March 2018. Retrieved 24 December 2018.
  11. "FIFA". Archived from the original on 6 July 2019.
  12. "Women's Football - News - 2019: A breakthrough year for women's football - FIFA.com". www.fifa.com.
  13. "Women's Football - News - FIFA launches first-ever global strategy for women's football - FIFA.com". www.fifa.com.
  14. Diamond, Drew (19 October 2023). "FIFA encourages federations to invest in their women's national teams". Her Football Hub. Retrieved 19 October 2023.
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