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Professor Laura McAllister CBE stands for place on Fifa Council
13 December 2020
Professor Laura McAllister CBE has been nominated by the Football Association of Wales
Former Wales captain Laura McAllister CBE is standing for election for the UEFA women's place on Fifa''s ruling council, a role currently held by Evelina Christillin.
Former Cardiff City player McAllister, Professor of Public Policy at Cardiff University, was nominated by the Football Association of Wales and has been endorsed by the FAs of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
McAllister is an experienced sports administrator who is currently a director of the Football Association of Wales Trust as well as the chair of the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame.
She also, won 24 caps for Wales from 1994 to 2001 and should she be elected, McAllister would become the first female UEFA member to have played the game at international level.
To win the Fifa Council's UEFA seat, one of six global seats reserved for female members, McAllister could go head-to-head with Christillin, who has been on the Council since September 2016.
It is McAllister's second attempt at joining the Council having been blocked from doing so in 2016 by a regulation that has now been changed.
At the time, former Manchester United chief executive David Gill was a Fifa vice-president meaning no other British person could apply according to the rules.
Christillin was the only other candidate and as a result, was elected at Uefa's extraordinary congress in Athens that year to become Uefa's only female member on the Council.
What is the Fifa Council?
Led by Fifa president Gianni Infantino, the Fifa Council is the main decision-making body of football's world governing organisation. It consists of 37 members, including eight vice-presidents who are elected by the member associations.
There is one vice-president for each of Fifa's six confederations, apart from its largest, Uefa, which has three.
A minimum of one female representative must be elected per confederation following a raft of reforms in 2016 to address gender imbalance within the governing body.
The 55 member associations will cast their vote at the UEFA congress on March 2 in 2021.
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It is McAllister's second attempt at joining the Council having been blocked from doing so in 2016 by a regulation that has now been changed."