Isha Johansen

Isha Johansen
President of the Sierra Leone Football Association
Assumed office
August 3, 2013
Preceded by Nahim Khadi
Personal details
Born Isha Tejan-Cole
Freetown, Sierra Leone
Nationality Sierra Leonean
Spouse(s) Arne Birger Johansen
Residence Freetown, Sierra Leone
Chelsea, London

Isha Tejan-Cole Johansen (born c. 1965[1]) is a Sierra Leonean entrepreneur and the current president of the Sierra Leone Football Association. Johansen is one of only a few women in the world to have headed a national football association,[2] along with Lydia Nsekera, the former president of the Burundi football association, Izetta Sombo Wesley, the former leader of the Liberia Football Association and Sonia Bien-Aime of the Turks and Caicos Islands Football Association.[3]

Isha Johansen is the owner and CEO of Sierra Leone National Premier League club F.C. Johansen.

Early life and family

Isha Johansen was born as Isha Tejan-Cole in Freetown, Sierra Leone, into the Tejan-Cole family, who are of Creole descent. She was immersed in football from the very beginning, as her father co-founded East End Lions F.C. in Freetown.[4] Her father took her to see football matches, and she played football with her brothers and their friends.

She was educated at a convent school in Freeport and a boarding school in Yeovil, England.[5]

She was raised in a religious Muslim family. She is married to the Norwegian Consul in Sierra Leone, Arne Birger Johansen.[3]

Football

Isha Johansen founded her own football club, F.C. Johansen, in 2004.[4] The club was started with the objective of giving guidance and opportunities to children whose lives had been disrupted by the recent Sierra Leone Civil War (1991-2002).[4] It began playing in Division One in 2011 and was promoted to the Premier League the following year.

Johansen was elected president of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) unopposed on 3 August 2013,[6] after her main opponent, former Sierra Leone international footballer Mohamed Kallon was disqualified by the Sierra Leone Football Executive committee for not meeting the SLFA residency requirement in the country.[7][8][9] Kallon appealed his disqualification, but the FIFA delegation to Freetown confirmed the disqualifications of Kallon and two other candidates (for links to gambling),[3] so Johansen was unopposed.[2] When Sepp Blatter was pressured to step down as head of FIFA, Johansen was touted as a possible successor in the press.[10][11]

She launched Powerplay, an initiative to encourage women and girls to play the game and to help empower them.[4] It has the support of FIFA and the Confederation of African Football.[4]

She also started the annual African International Youth Tournament in 2009.[1]

On 7 September 2016, SLFA President Isha Johansen, Vice President Brima Kamara and Secretary General Christopher Kamara were jailed by the Anti-corruption Commission for failing to provide reports regarding the SLFA's financial statements and the use of money.[12] The trio were released after posting bail.[13] FIFA defended the SLFA in a letter, stating, "FIFA has no reason to suspect there has been misuse of funds that FIFA has provided to the SLFA", having audited the SLFA's accounts earlier in the year.[14]

Other activities

In 1993, she became the first woman publisher in the country's history, producing Rapture Magazine, an entertainment publication.[1][4] She was also contributing editor to Ovation magazine.[1] She founded the Pink Charity Fund to combat breast cancer in 2006[1] and the Women of Excellence Awards.[4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 OluwaBusayo Sotunde (October 10, 2012). "Meet Isha Johansen - Sierra Leonean Entrepreneur and Football Enthusiast". venturesafrica.com. The 47-year old business savvy entrepreneur ...
  2. 1 2 Mohamed Fajah Barrie. "BBC Sport - Johansen confirmed as SLFA president". BBC Sport.
  3. 1 2 3 "Johansen to be first female president of SLAFA". sportsnet.ca. Associated Press. August 2, 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lydia Smith (November 21, 2015). "Sierra Leone's FA president Isha Johansen: Meet Africa's most powerful woman in football". International Business Times.
  5. ↑ Anna Kessel (January 24, 2015). "Sierra Leone's Isha Johansen blazes trail amid tragedy and infighting". The Guardian.
  6. ↑ "ISHA JOHANSEN becomes first woman SLFA President". africayoungvoices.com.
  7. ↑ "Fresh turmoil in Sierra Leone football elections as former player Kallon disqualified". insidethegames.biz.
  8. ↑ "allAfrica.com: Sierra Leone: Kallon, Rodney React to SLFA Disqualification". allAfrica.com.
  9. ↑ Mohamed Fajah Barrie. "BBC Sport - Fifa endorses decision to ban Kallon from SLFA election". BBC Sport.
  10. ↑ James Masters (February 4, 2016). "FIFA elections: Should football elect a woman to replace Sepp Blatter?". CNN.
  11. ↑ Desmond Kane (November 18, 2015). "Why can't Isha Johansen be FIFA's first female president?". Eurosport.
  12. ↑ Umaru Fofana (8 September 2016). "Sierra Leone Football Association officials arrested by anti-graft agency". Reuters.
  13. ↑ "Top Sierra Leone FA officials spend night in jail in corruption investigation". Associated Press. 8 September 2016.
  14. ↑ "Fifa backs Sierra Leone FA in use of funds". BBC News. 21 September 2016.
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