Now, though, there is an alternative voice being put forward to challenge the rule of Infantino and the idea that football cannot be done differently. “Hope Sogni” would like to be Fifa’s 10th – and first female – president, putting forward a progressive programme and highlighting the vital role women can play in the decision-making process.
You haven’t misheard. You may be confused. Yes, all isn’t as it seems.
Sogni has been created using AI, built to understand the game, its politics, the key issues it faces, and can be talked to in real time.
On Wednesday Sogni launches her hypothetical election campaign, with a manifesto which declares that “football governance is broken” and “Fifa must hold up its own mirror and decide whether what they see looking back is in fact a beautiful game, because all I see is a century of misogyny that has overshadowed its ability to truly be a game for all”.
Sogni is artificial, but also isn’t. Created by the sports creative agency Dark Horses, Twise.ai and the CEO of Lewes FC, Maggie Murphy, Sogni has been built using the voices and experiences of influential women in the game, including Moya Dodd, the former vice-captain of Australia and one of the first women to join the Fifa Council, to be a collective and anonymous voice of women in football.
Sogni is a tool to promote the fact that women in positions of power in football should not be an alien concept and that plenty of women in the game are more than qualified for governance roles at every level. She also exists as the voice of this calibre of women in the game, built to represent their collective outlook and able to put, without fear of retribution, an alternative view to that established by Fifa.
Ask Sogni whether she is a token woman and she will answer eloquently:
“No, I am not a token woman. I am a qualified and experienced candidate who is running for FIFA presidency based on my merits and my commitment to promoting gender equality and transparency in sports.”
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