FIFA Council member, Isha Johansen on Tuesday 8th of February 2022 delivered an Influential and motivational speech in her address to the 37 member delegates of the Gibraltar Football Association in Gibraltar.

The former Sierra Leone Football Association President who was also the first female to be elected into the Executive boardroom in CAF and now sits as the only African Female on the Fifa Council Governing Board, represented Fifa at the 3rd Ordinary General Assembly of the Gibraltar FA.

Isha Johansen addressing the Gibraltar Football Association General AssemblyJohsnsen congratulated President Michal Llanos on being re-elected, unanimously.

“Congratulations on all the work you and your team have been doing and you being re-elected.”

Johansen  reflected on the global challenges which threatened to bring federations across the world

“You, my dear friends have shown the spirit of determination and resilience, we now see the positive green lights in Gibraltarian Football.”

Amidst standing ovation, Johansen brought the congregation to an inspiring and emotional end by likening the depth of the stakeholders passion to that of Sierra Leone and in particular FC Johansen, a football club she founded almost 20 years ago. She urged the federation to not only believe in their dreams but to ‘chase them unequivocally’.

“You may be small in number, but your pride and determination to succeed is enormous. Congratulations and goodluck to you all”

She ended with a final note of optimism confirming Fifa’s commitment to support the federation in development, “be it either through the FIFA Forward program, covid-10 relief plan or via ad hoc support where we can..”
Isha Johansen and Gibraltar Football Association Vice President

Madam Johansen was in Cameroon for the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations finals, but later left to represent FIFA at the Gibraltar Football Association General Assembly.

The Gibraltar Football Association or also Gibraltar FA (GFA) is the governing body for Gibraltarian football and futsal. It was formed as the Gibraltar Civilian Football Association in 1895, changing to its current name in later years. It is one of the oldest football associations in the world[citation needed]. From October 2012, the GFA were provisional members of UEFA and the Gibraltar national futsal team, under-19 and under-17 representative teams participated in the 2013/14 UEFA season competitions. At the XXXVII UEFA Congress held in London on 24 May 2013, Gibraltar was accepted as a full member of UEFA. Gibraltar were admitted to FIFA as a full member on 13 May 2016 at the 66th FIFA Congress in Mexico.