Sarai Bareman
Dame companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to football governance.
When Sarai Bareman first read the message, she had to do a double take.
The Fifa head of women’s football was sitting in her office at the Zurich headquarters of the global governing body, in between back-to-back meetings, part of the role that encompasses more than 200 member nations.
She was wading through emails when one from New Zealand caught her eye. It was a formal letter from the Governor-General, asking Bareman if she would accept the appointment to be a dame companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
“I was completely shocked,” Bareman told the Weekend Herald from Switzerland. “I had to reread it a few times to let it sink in and then once I got past the initial shock it was very emotional for me. It’s been an incredible year and this is such an incredible honour to top it all off. It’s really humbling to be recognised at this level.”
In the New Year Honours for 2024, the Aucklander has been recognised for services to football governance, in the wake of the spectacular success of the 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia. It also reflects her meteoric rise through the global layers of the sport’s administration and her commitment to developing the female side of the game.
It hasn’t always been easy, as even internally within Fifa some attitudes were slow to change while the demands and needs of the sport across so many different countries and cultures vary wildly. It’s been an all-consuming role.
“My work is not easy and although I love it and I am very privileged to be in this position with Fifa, I have had to sacrifice a lot,” Bareman said. “Being away from my family and friends in New Zealand for the past seven years, missing out on many milestones in my son’s first 18 months of life. To be honoured like this won’t bring back those moments but it shows me that I am making a difference and the sacrifice was not for nothing.”
After a banking career in her hometown, Bareman got her start in Samoa in 2008, where the Football Federation needed a finance manager. She then became chief executive officer – despite opposition in some quarters to a woman taking on the top job – before moving to the Oceania Football Confederation in 2014.
A year later Bareman was appointed to the Fifa reform committee (the only female on that panel), as the governing body faced major upheaval. Her work, drive and passion helped lead to the establishment of Fifa’s first women’s football division and new president Gianni Infantino selected her to lead the new section.
From a small team, the unit has grown rapidly. Bareman was instrumental in developing their global women’s football strategy in 2018, with some ambitious targets. She oversaw the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France – a landmark event in terms of crowds and television audience – which set goals even higher for the next one.
That became a pet project and delivered spectacularly, with more than 1.9 million people attending matches, 700,000 alone drawn to the games in New Zealand and the record for a football match here (men’s or women’s) broken several times during the event.
Bareman drove moves towards parity with the men’s event, with team base camps used for the first time and guaranteed levels of prize money for all players involved. Her tenure has also seen significant rises in participation levels across the world and the emergence of a greater depth in the sport.
It’s a long, long way from west Auckland, where Bareman grew up in a rugby-loving family and attended Massey High School.
“My upbringing, my family, the community I grew up in and the values that were instilled in me from those younger days have led me to where I am today,” Bareman said. “It’s been an incredible journey and I wouldn’t change a thing about it. I have to give thanks to God for every opportunity that has been given to me and this year in particular, to be able to bring a World Cup home and for it to be such a massive success has been the highlight of my career so far.”
Bareman, who always brings a friendly, informal edge to her work despite the prestige of the role, admits she isn’t sure about using the new title.
“It feels surreal and bit too fancy for me,” laughed Bareman. “Especially when I look at all the incredible women and men who have been honoured in the past.”
After spending an extended period around the World Cup, Bareman has stayed in the northern hemisphere for the Christmas break, before another busy year of work begins later in January.
“We will spend a bit of time in the mountains, enjoying the snow and visiting the different cities. Most of all, I will be switching off and enjoying some quality time with my husband and son.”
Other sportspeople and officials to be honoured include Football Ferns stalwarts Ali Riley and Ria Percival (members of the New Zealand Order of Merit) and Fifa Women’s World Cup boss Dave Beeche (companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit).
Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns. A football aficionado, Burgess will never forget the noise that greeted Rory Fallon’s goal against Bahrain in Wellington in 2009.
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