Even before she became one of the handful of women ever to have run a national soccer federation, Isha Johansen had carved out a prominent profile in the sport. The club grew, once attracting a visit from David Beckham, and eventually established itself in the country’s top league. Johansen, meanwhile, quickly rose through soccer’s governance ranks as a rare woman in the upper echelons of a sport long run by men. Yet at home in Sierra Leone, where Johansen has been a lightning rod for controversy since even before she became federation president, her life in soccer has been an entirely different experience. And now she is facing a reckoning.

Source: International New York Times April 28, 2019 16:52 UTC