Lydia Nsekera was elected to the FIFA Executive Committee at the body s annual congress on Friday, becoming the first woman to be selected.
Nsekera has been the president of Burundi s Football Association since 2004, and was also appointed to the International Committee in 2009.
The 46-year-old was running against Australia s Moya Dodd and Sonia Bien-Aime of the Turks and Caicos Islands for the spot, which was set apart for a female after president Sepp Blatter committed to adding women to the FIFA ExCo.
It s a historic day for football and a great day for women, Dodd said.
I d like to contribute to the best governance of the game, and to fight against match manipulation and discrimination.
Football is the sport everybody loves; no-one should be excluded. And we should not only protect the game, but also fight against discrimination outside of football.
There was a sourer moment for Blatter, however, as Mark Pieth, an Swiss lawyer managing FIFA s reform process, called on the president to reveal his salary in order to promote greater transparency in the organisation.
Speaking in front of 209 FIFA executives, including Blatter, Pieth said: A key remaining issue in transparency is the remuneration of key officials. These did not come overnight for other organisations either but FIFA needs to catch up.
I would like to invite the president and members of the executive committee to take this step as it would send a crucial message to their constituencies and to the wider public that they have nothing to hide.
It is unfortunate that this Congress may not be able to take a decision on age and term limits either. These may not be the most fundamental of reform issues but they send a symbolic message.
