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“FIFA’s appointment of supermodel, Adriana Lima as its global fan ambassador in a Women’s World Cup year is “baffling” and sends the wrong message to players and fans”, former FIFA Council member Moya Dodd said.
Brazilian Lima, who has more than 15 million Instagram followers, will “develop, promote and participate in several global initiatives” in her role as FIFA’s first global fan ambassador, the governing body said in a statement on Monday.
Australian Dodd, a former international player who served on the committee for Australia and New Zealand’s successful bid to co-host the World Cup, said Lima’s appointment less than five months before the tournament was “tone deaf”.
“At the outset, the model’s public image looked like an odd fit for an organisation that says it wants to empower girls and women,” Dodd, one of the first women to serve on FIFA’s decision-making body, wrote in a post on LinkedIn on Wednesday.
“I asked whether the FIFA ambassador will be delivering messages on body image, wellbeing and healthy eating.”
“What will this ambassador represent to the large and growing population of aspirational #womensfootball players and fans who love the game because (it) shows us what empowerment and equality can look like?”
Dodd, a member of the FIFA Council from 2013 to 2016, also referred to comments Lima made in a 2006 interview with the magazine GQ in which she said abortion was “a crime”.
Lima’s publicist, Laurent Boye, said the model’s stance had changed in the 17 years since she made those comments.
“We can proudly say that Ms Lima has been promoting a healthy lifestyle for several years and like many people, her position on many LGBTQIA+ and women issues has evolved and she is considered an ally,” Boye said in a statement.
Dodd, a prominent women’s soccer advocate, represented Australia 24 times from 1986-95 and played in FIFA’s women’s invitational tournament in 1988, three years before the inaugural Women’s World Cup.
“When a girl plays football, the world sees her differently,” Dodd said.
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