Moya Dodd. Credit:Nic Walker Watching the beautiful game took on almost a religious significance and soon Dodd was searching for a team to join. "I looked at the newspaper every day to get any news. One day, I found the women's soccer results in the fine print of the sport listings and I thought, 'wow, here's an opportunity'. There were six women's teams in Adelaide. . . a city of a million people." Football, or soccer as it's called here, was on the periphery of sport in a country that loved its Aussie rules and rugby league as much as it loved its homogeneity. Soccer back then was a football code played by ethnic minorities – some called it wogball – and it was male-centric, which meant women and girls' teams were a rarity. Dodd, who desperately wanted to play, continued her search for a team. One, Port Adelaide, was a short bike ride from her home. It meant she could get there on her own as neither of her parents could indulge their now 13-year-old daughter, the youngest of three children, in her new sporting interest. They were a one-car family and Dodd's father, a fire station chief, worked shifts. Her mother was a Seventh Day Adventist and abstained from work or competitive sport on Saturdays. So off Dodd cycled to play a football code that didn't fit the template of "Australian" football. Soccer also didn't fit the template of what girls did back then – not that Dodd, who would one day become a member of FIFA's powerful executive committee, has ever fit a template. 'Moya the lawyer'

Moya Dodd, playing for the Matildas. It had taken Dodd two years to find a team in 1970s Adelaide, but once on the soccer pitch, she rarely came off it for the next four decades. From Port Adelaide, she made the state team and then the national women's team, the Matildas, at the young age of 19. There she played mid-field for almost a decade, including in the first women's world tournament in 1998, when Australia beat Brazil 1-0. "I remember watching Moya in national championships over a number of years and she was a stand-out player," says Heather Reid, a former chief executive of Australian Women's Soccer. Dodd was the Matildas' vice-captain for five years and eventually retired injured after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in her knee. At 29, it was age rather than injury – and the fact women's football didn't pay – which convinced Dodd it was time to hang up her professional boots and pursue a career in law. This was no surprise to the other Matildas, who'd long ago nicknamed her "Moya the lawyer". Dodd had been studying law and gaining an MBA while playing. Many of her teammates also held down part-time jobs and studied because they often had to pay their own way to international games. Women's football in those days drew almost no sponsorship. Dodd tells the story of the Matildas having such little money the players had to sew their own badges onto their tracksuits for an international competition.

After gaining her degree, Dodd worked across various aspects of the law including as an associate for a South Australian Supreme Court judge and as a junior lawyer for King & Wood Mallesons. Later, she joined OTC, Australia's then international telecommunications provider. Now a partner in Sydney with Gilbert + Tobin, Dodd specialises in telecommunications competition and regulation law. Gilbert + Tobin's flexible work arrangements allow her to combine career with family and football commitments by working part-time. She has two children with partner Sandy Killick. "Moya's a very ambitious person," says Danny Gilbert, managing partner at Gilbert + Tobin. "She's a highly skilled professional with good values. When we were doing the NBN negotiations, acting for Telstra in the time of the previous government, she was a very core part of that team." 'Irresistible challenge' As Dodd pursued her law career, she remained active in football, continuing to play in a local league following an operation. She remained a vocal advocate for the sport, which threw open some new doors. Around the time she joined Gilbert + Tobin, Dodd also became a director of Football Federation Australia (FFA). She was nominated to the post by the ACT's football federation, Capital Football, of which Heather Reid is the chief executive. "Moya is analytical, strategic and highly professional," says Reid, explaining why Capital backed Dodd.

After securing that board seat in 2007, Dodd's career in football governance accelerated. A few months later, she become a member of the Asian Football Confederation. "She saw a break, which she grabbed and took advantage of, and that's something she has been doing ever since," says Reid. In 2009 Dodd become one of the confederation's vice-presidents. It was this body that nominated her to FIFA's patriarchal executive committee, where she is the only Australian and one of only three women on the 27-member board. FIFA, or Fédération Internationale de Football Association, controls global soccer: the most watched, played and loved game on earth. The last World Cup men's final in 2010 drew 700 million television viewers live – or about one-tenth of the world's population – not accounting for those who don't own television sets. It's for this reason that soccer is called the world game: played by the poorest kids in Africa, who fashion soccer balls from plastic bags, and loved by the well-heeled fans of the elite English Premier League. So did Dodd in her wildest dreams expect to find herself on the FIFA executive committee, the most potent sporting administration in the world and one beset by scandal? Was it her aim to become the most important, influential and connected Australian in international football? "If I had sat down and made out a life plan that said, 'In my 40s, I'd like to join the FFA board and the executive committee of the Asia Football Confederation and finish up on the FIFA executive committee, I would have been certified," laughs Dodd, now 49. She may not have had a career plan but she says joining FIFA's executive was an "irresistible challenge". A favourite quote of hers is from the late Nelson Mandela: "It always seems impossible until it's done."

What Dodd has done is become only the third Australian in FIFA's 110-year history to be on its executive. The others were Arthur George, who sat on the board from 1980 to 1989, and Basil Scarsella, a member from 2000 to 2003. "Moya's the most powerful Australian in football," says Reid. "While we have Mr Frank Lowy as chair of Football Federation Australia, he's not on any FIFA committee." Westfield chairman and billionaire Frank Lowy has transformed Australian football in the past decade. He removed the destructive bickering from the game, united it with a national league and injected money into the sport. As a result, soccer is growing in popularity, but it will be decades, if ever, before it's able to unseat AFL as the country's most popular and profitable football code.Determination and commitment While Dodd is often described as the most influential Australian woman in world sport, Danny Gilbert prefers "one of the most important figures".

He deliberately doesn't mention Moya's gender. "To point out that it's a woman holding that role, it's somehow like that's second best," he says. "Well, it's not second best." Dodd, who is a strong supporter of women's football but doesn't want to be known just as a female face of FIFA, says the opportunity to become a member of the executive committee came along at the right time in her career. "If you are open to opportunities and ready and prepared to take those opportunities, and you are true to what you like doing, then you will find yourself around people that love what you love and then those opportunities will come." She draws an analogy with playing professional football. "You go to training everyday and put in your best shift at every training session and you learn as much as you can from every coach and every player you work with. You can't predict when that ball will come to you or from who or what direction. But you know if you do all of that, you'll be the most prepared you can be to stick it in to the back of the net." That sort of determination and commitment have been constant themes in Dodd's life since childhood. Her unflagging energy leaves many amazed, including David Gallop, chief executive of Football Federation Australia. "I don't think there's another person on the planet who travels so much as Moya," he says. "Luckily, I've noticed she sleeps well on planes." Dodd spends about a third of the year travelling thanks to her role on three football governing bodies. Sometimes the trips are short, such as going to Zurich or Costa Rica for two days. It's a juggle for someone with football commitments, a demanding law career and family, but she manages. On the day of the interview with AFR Magazine, she's got her eye on the clock to pick up her two children from school.

Dodd begins her second one-year term on the FIFA executive committee in mid-June, just as the men's World Cup kicks off in Brazil. Gallop says FIFA's decision to extend Dodd's term is a sign that her value is recognised. "It's testimony to Moya's tireless efforts in Australia, Asia and globally."FIFA changes And yet despite Dodd becoming part of FIFA's inner circle, alongside the wily 78-year-old president Sepp Blatter, many close to the game have never heard of the most influential Australian in football. Reid speculates this is because Dodd, while ambitious, is modest about her achievements. She also offers another explanation: perhaps Dodd doesn't want a high profile as she's goes about building consensus to help change FIFA. "There are tremendous challenges in dealing with an institution like FIFA," says Reid. "You don't need to look too far in the press to see the myriad of allegations about the integrity of the organisation." Before Dodd joined FIFA, the governing body had been dragged into ill repute. The last presidential election at FIFA, where Blatter has reigned since 1998, was mired in allegations of bribery and corruption. Similar allegations were levelled at FIFA's chaotic bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups and FIFA launched an investigation into possible votes for sale and collusion. The 2022 World Cup was awarded to Qatar, which was considered the least suitable host. Australia's bid to host the 2022 World Cup cost more than $40 million and received just one vote from the FIFA executive. When Dodd became a FIFA executive member, there was a weight of expectation, some of it naive, that she could single-handedly go in and clean-up FIFA's problems. Commentators called on her to go in all guns blazing and demand that executive committee salaries be disclosed and that she vet the bidding process for the 2026 World Cup to ensure it's not custom-made for bestowing favours.

But such demands do not account for the complexity of working within FIFA, an organisation that has 209 member countries. Dodd notes that when she joined the Asian Football Confederation, it took one to two years to get engagement from members. She says that when she took up the FIFA post, where she also sits on its legal committee, she "got the occasional comment that reflected the view that I could go and sock it to them and tell them what they needed to fix. . . Other people said: 'Now how do you feel, you're part of the problem', a little tongue in cheek." Positive difference It may sound altrustic, but Dodd says she wanted the role because she believes she can make a difference. "I knew enough about FIFA to know there are some very good people who you can work with to make the game better. I had enough confidence that I could make at some level a positive difference and that it was worth having a go." Her focus at FIFA is on improving soccer's governance and greater inclusion of all players, particularly women. Reid says Dodd is in a very good position to influence change but it's got to be step by step. "She's no doubt working very hard with other colleagues on the ex-co to get them to own certain aspects of what she's trying to influence in the organisation. If you rock the boat too much then it's: 'We'll see you later'. People like Moya. . . have to pick their battles." However, David Gallop is quick to dispel the idea that Dodd is a shrinking violet. He says that while she is a "consummate diplomat" who is "respectful, a good listener and a good analytical thinker", she never "leaves you wondering about her point of view". When Dodd became one of three women appointed to the FIFA executive, the move was seen as an important shift in culture and leadership and a modernising of the committee for the 21st century. Others saw putting women into decision-making roles at the top of football as part of the changes that FIFA was forced to make after its reputation was stained by bribery and corruption allegations.

FIFA created a new executive member role for a four-year term that would be filled by a woman in 2013. Three women competed for it after being nominated by their respective confederations. They were Dodd, Lydia Nsekera of Burundi and Sonia Bien-Aime of the Turks and Caicos Islands. Nsekera was the incumbent, having already served on the FIFA executive in a one-year, co-opted role. She emerged the winner, securing the four-year term after gaining 95 votes. Dodd was in second place, securing 70 votes, followed by Bien-Aime, 38, in a contest that was highly political and not at all sporting. Dodd received 47 of her 70 votes from the Asian Football Confederation that had supported her candidacy; the other votes are understood to have come from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and a handful of European nations. Rather than losing Dodd and Bien-Aime, FIFA decided to co-opt them both into one-year terms. It recently renewed those terms for another 12 months.Level playing field At the time of Dodd's bid, she was described by president Blatter as a "good candidate". He then added "and a good-looking candidate", which triggered some outrage. Dodd was not offended. "I was more focused on his earlier comments that I was a good candidate, a very good candidate." Reid is less diplomatic when she talks about the "godly grandfathers" who sit on the FIFA executive committee. "If we had a level playing field, women would have a better opportunity to be able to take a position across FIFA's executive committee without having to have specialised positions created." What happens after this second one-year term is unknown. The best outcome would be that Dodd wins a four-year term in which she would have more time to make that "difference".

In the meantime, Dodd is uncomfortable with the idea she wields power on the FIFA executive committee. "I don't have power. I'm one person on a committee of 27 and I don't even have a vote." The co-opted members do not have voting rights. "The idea that I would exercise power is ambitious but not realistic. The most you can aim for is to have influence and to have influence you need to be credible, you need to be accepted to the point where your views are considered worth listening to or even sought out," she says. "In a professional services environment at Gilbert + Tobin, you're only as influential as your advice is good. In the end, it means making sure you understand the stakeholders, their main interests and positions, and you have a thorough knowledge of the facts. Then you provide views and opinions that are well thought through and credible. Only by doing that you can build the credibility required to have any influence. That's really the challenge that I'm focused on." Dodd, however, was able to exert significant influence on FIFA even before she became an executive member, securing the biggest cap of her career. She convinced Blatter and the executive to reverse its ban on women players wearing the headscarf. Dodd worked with Jordan's Prince Ali bin Al Hussein, who was with the Asian Football Confederation and FIFA, on the issue that had sidelined many women throughout the Middle East and Asia from playing football. Dodd travelled to Iran with Blatter to observe the effect the ban was having on women's football there.Future focus While Dodd wants to advance women's football, she doesn't see that as her primary role at FIFA, where she believes making an overall contribution is necessary not just for the game but to keep her respect and credibility. This is what she has done at the FFA, where she has served on its A-League committee for the men's pro league, the women's committee and the football development committee. She's held similar positions at the Asian confederation. For many, having an Australian on the FIFA executive is the best hope that one day the country might host the men's World Cup. Others focus on Dodd bringing change to the much criticised FIFA executive committee. The scandals of recent years have angered the game's fans, many of whom hold the view that if FIFA can't control its own shop, how can it control the rest of football?

Dodd sidesteps Australia's obsession with hosting a men's World Cup and reminds fans that they should focus on Australia's hosting of the Asian Football Cup next year. "That's a huge opportunity for Australia to position itself in the eyes of the region and globe." Following that is the chance to host a Women's World Cup in Australia in 2019, if the FFA decides to bid. Dodd says most people would agree the Matildas are closer to winning a World Cup than the Socceroos. The women's team is ranked 9th in the world compared with the Socceroos, who are in 59th place. However, this doesn't mean Dodd is pessimistic about the men's chances at the World Cup. The Socceroos drew the so-called "group of death", which includes titleholders Spain, the Netherlands and Chile, and consequently many fans have resigned themselves to Australia's certain defeat. "We're in a great position as the underdog," says Dodd, who will be in Brazil with her family to watch the games. She makes the bold claim that in her lifetime, soccer will become the No. 1 sporting code in Australia. "I see the size and scale of the game accelerating from here." Loading Her journey has been one more step in that direction.

This story was first published in The Australian Financial Review Magazine.