FIFA Chief Women's Football Officer Sarai Bareman. Photo / Photosport
Kiwi Sarai Bareman is attempting to navigate a path out of coronavirus for the world's biggest female sport, and is doing it from her dining room.
Each morning, just after breakfast, Sarai Bareman waves goodbye to her husband and enters her 'war room'.
The New Zealander, who heads up the women's football division at FIFA, doesn't have to go far.
For the best part of two months Bareman has set up shop at the dining room table of her Zurich apartment, as Switzerland, like most other European countries, has compelled people to work from home during the coronavirus lockdown.
It's been a challenge for everyone, but especially Fifa, which has more countries under its umbrella than the United Nations. Most of those national football federations are looking for guidance, advice, support and financial assistance, and it's up to Fifa to engineer those rescue plans.
The women's game, which has a much smaller and younger professional footprint, is seen as particularly vulnerable to the Covid-19 disruption in the short and medium term.
It all means that Bareman's dining room wouldn't look out of place in a Hollywood film, as she monitors developments from across the globe.
"With so many moving parts and the coronavirus situation constantly evolving, it is a little bit like a scene from an FBI investigation in a movie," laughs Bareman over the phone to the Herald. "There is a lot going on."
There are also though, telling touches of Kiwiana, among the screens, charts and papers.
The New Zealand themed coasters on the table, the 'Four Square' clock on the wall, the Maori carvings on display and the jars of Marmite and manuka honey stashed in the nearby kitchen cupboard.
They are all reminders of her background for Bareman, who grew up in West Auckland, attended Massey High School and had her first job at the National Bank in Ponsonby. That was before her swift rise as a football administrator, from the Samoan Federation, to the Oceania Football Confederation to her career-defining role at Fifa.
Bareman can receive calls at all hours of the day and night – federations around the globe aren't always cognisant of time zones - but accepts it as part of the job. But she has established a set routine with her husband Mark, so they maintain a work/life balance in trying times.
"He has his own [work space] set up in a bedroom, so we don't distract each other during the day and can try to maintain a sense of normality and 'going to the office'."
That's important, as Bareman is facing the biggest challenge of her three and a half year tenure at Fifa; finding a way to mitigate the impact on women's football by the Covid-19 pandemic, and ensuring that it can continue to thrive into the future.
"It's something that has been consuming my days, it's obviously a big concern for us," Bareman tells the Herald. "We had a huge amount of momentum coming off the back of the World Cup last year and we had seen domestically around the world that the popularity of the women's game had really taken off. We want to maintain that momentum, so what is happening now is a major concern."
The women's game has enjoyed impressive growth over the last decade, and the 2019 World Cup in France demonstrated that, with record television audiences and large crowds.
But beyond that marquee event, there was other compelling evidence of increased mainstream support.
Last year England's Lionesses drew more than 70,000 fans to a match against Germany. The United States attracted almost 50,000 when they hosted Portugal in Philadelphia, while more than 20,000 turned out to watch Australia play Chile last November.
There were also positive signs at club level; 31,000 witnessed the women's Manchester derby in September, then 38,000 turned out for a clash between Arsenal and Spurs in November (the previous English women's league high had been less than 6000).
Italy, France and Portugal also had attendance breakthroughs, while the continental high watermark saw an incredible 60,000 pass through the gates to see Atletico Madrid face Barcelona.
However, the women's game doesn't have the same foundations as the men's version – principally because of its youth – and could be drastically affected by Covid-19, and the anticipated global recession to come.
Women's teams have been a relatively recent addition at many long established clubs, and will come under the microscope as cost pressures escalate.
"It's inevitable there will be changes to the landscape, we have seen it already across all sports," said Bareman. "The vulnerability of women's football as a young industry when compared to the men's game is something that maybe exposes it a bit more.
"In any sector it's new businesses and those that are developing and up-and-coming that are often the most heavily impacted."
The women's game also operates as a stark pyramid. Those at the very top are well rewarded, but most professionals below that small layer earn modest incomes, playing for the love of the sport as much as the remuneration. It's also at the beginning of its growth curve; there are an estimated 1200 professional female players, compared with around 130,000 men.
"Every county has leagues that have been put on hold, some have been cancelled and that impacts the clubs, and the players," said Bareman. "There's a real chain reaction."
"We need to understand the impact at each level, to use that information to help us to put together what we can do as Fifa, to support the football family to recover, then return to normality. But health comes first - football is secondary."
Fifa has already pledged financial packages for every member association, and it's up to Bareman to make sure that the woman's game is looked after within that.
It's likely she will.
The 38-year-old is one of the youngest executives at Fifa but no shirking violet. She's a fearless, effective advocate for her sector, traits that have held her in good stead on an unlikely journey from finance officer at the Samoa Football Federation to her lofty post in Zurich.
"It's my job to ensure that the impact on our industry is clearly understood in those decision-making processes," said Bareman.
"We are in a healthy financial position for a sporting organisation. There are a lot of reserves and this is a moment where it is important that we can use that position to help our members."
Switzerland has been in lockdown since mid-March, but the highly organised Swiss have coped well, with little of the queues or panic buying evident in some other countries.
Fifa transitioned early to home-based work, wary of the risk posed given the amount of international travel many employees undertake.
It's been an adjustment, but successful in terms of productivity.
"It's given us food for thought, how we adjust going forward, "said Bareman. "There might be an opportunity to modernise the way that we work.".
The circumstances have also led to Bareman strengthening relationships with her counterparts at World Rugby and the International Cricket Council, among others, as they plot a way forward.
"Across all of our sporting codes often the women's game is seen as the poor cousin, so we are all going through the same challenges," said Bareman. "There has been a lot more connection with colleagues from other codes in this period."
No one really knows what the ultimate impact of the Coronavirus will be, but Bareman is remaining optimistic.
She says that the impending expansion of the Women's World Cup (to 32 teams from the next edition in 2023) will be a huge boost, that will filter downstream.
Bareman also remains positive that the stretch goal of doubling global participation by 2026 (to 60 million girls and women playing the sport) is still achievable, despite the still to be assessed impact of Covid-19.
"There are a lot of challenges ahead and a lot of work to do," said Bareman.
"But as has often been my experience, it's in times of adversity where the biggest opportunities often lie."
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