African Sports Monthly International Women's Day Special Edition | Page 37

FIFA which had been making some significant progress in many social issues of concern especially with
that of race relations and its “Say No to Racism Campaign” was looking to also make inroads on gender
matters as well, because that part of its constituents has been growing steadily and surely enough Lydia
Nsekera and Isha Johansen gave a jolt that FIFA needed to press that issue and lay claim to progress
being made.
Mrs. Johansen an intelligent British educated entrepreneur started her journey to the halls of FIFA in
Zurich in the most unconventional way in her homeland of Sierra Leone when she happened to promise
a group of neighborhood kids who always played soccer close to her home where she lived. She would
one day stop by to speak to them and it was then that she promised she would provide them with
footballs, jerseys, and other goodies if they agreed to stay in school. That was the beginning of her now
famous club FC Johansen and her ascent to international renown.

Her interest in helping the young kids in her neighborhood awakened her to other possibilities and she
saw an opportunity to make an even bigger impact when the then FA Chief for the Sierra Leone Football
Association (SLFA) Mr. Nahim Khadi decided not to pursue reelection for the position of the FA
Presidency. The declaration will lead to a vacant seat that will be contested for by a new generation of
leaders and Isha Johansen was one of those leaders. The contest though was heavy and controversial
but nonetheless it led to Isha and Sierra Leone laying claim to the second woman ever elected to FIFA as
an FA chief on the global stage.
Her reign though welcomed by most of the world has been fraught with difficulties on the home front
where she has faced numerous challenges to unseat her by national stakeholders in Sierra Leone
football for a variety of reasons.

Isha Johansen still occupies the seat as FA chief in Sierra Leone facing a daily onslaught of rebellion, but
she trudges on like a warrior performing her duties and doing what she can for Football in Sierra Leone.
Around the world however people see a bright future for her in the Game which needs a serious
injection of the fairer sex as the popularity of the game grows with women around the world. In fact,
there are speculations that she may one day head FIFA as its first ever female chief but that is
speculation for the distant future.

For the present moment we at African Sports Monthly wants to celebrate Isha Johansen as a game
changer and woman pioneer in sports on the African continent and around the world. We recognize her
in this our salute to African Woman in Sports Special Issue in honor of International Women’s day –
March 8th 2016.
By Leslie Koroma Sr.