100 of the Most Influential Women in Sport >> Boardroom & Administration

Moya Dodd, Australia

Executive committee member of the Asian Football Confederation

Simply playing football has never been enough for Dodd. A 24-cap international career with Australia, of which the first steps were taken when incessantly kicking the ball against the garage of her parents’ Adelaide home, has been parlayed into a prominent spell as a bureaucrat. As chair of the Asian Football Confederation women’s committee, she teamed up with Jordan’s Prince Ali bin Hussein – a previous candidate for the FIFA presidency – to overturn the ban on the wearing of the hijab by female Muslim players. Dodd would also rise to one of the top spots at FIFA in 2013, being one of three women to serve on its Executive Committee. The 53-year-old’s controversial failure to be re-elected in 2017, missing out to Bangladesh’s Mahfuza Akhter Kiron who struggled to name the Women’s World Cup holders, has not tempered her involvement. Dodd now chairs Common Goal, a charity co-founded by Manchester United playmaker Juan Mata that encourages professional players and coaches to donate one per cent of their salaries to a collective fund.

– She featured in FIFA’s first-ever global tournament for women in 1988, coming on as a substitute when Australia beat Brazil.

– Dodd qualified as a lawyer during her playing days and is now a partner at Gilbert + Tobin, a Sydney-based firm that is renowned for its pro bono services.

– Age is no barrier for Dodd’s love of the game. She still plays in an over-35s competition in Australia.

Did you know…

Dodd told Forbes that she grew up as a huge Liverpool fan, staying up late into the night as a teenager to watch their matches on television in Australia and taking inspiration from Kevin Keegan.

“I grew up in Adelaide, Australia. My parents didn’t play, my grandparents didn’t play, and nobody in my family had any clue about football. Yet somehow it became the centre of my life. I played on the Australian national team. I was one of the first few women on the FIFA executive committee. I’ve had some strange and priceless adventures, both on and off the field.” – Moya Dodd (Source: The Players’ Tribune)

Twitter: @moyadodd

Instagram: Moya Dodd