Women in Football chair Ebru Köksal is taking FIFA boss Gianni Infantino at his word as her organisation looks to open the boardrooms of football’s governing bodies. 

Infantino was widely criticised for telling attendees at the Women’s World Cup that they have the power to make changes if they ‘push on open doors'.

Women in Football, the 8,000-strong organisation pushing for gender equality in football, have responded by launching their Open Doors Agenda. 

This includes calling for FIFA and the other confederations to mandate diverse leadership in national associations with an initial target of 30% of members of senior decision-making bodies to be women. 

“I think he [Infantino] was sincere about listening to women and making things better for women working in the game,” Köksal said. 

“So, I think that while his call on his side was sincere, maybe at the receiving end some people thought that it was not necessarily said with the same intentions.  

“But I think as an organization, we took it as a positive call. And we said, ‘Ok, if the doors are open, here we are and if you are willing to listen, this is what we think needs to happen at the top line’. 

"We believe that increased female representation at boardroom and executive level is vital to change the culture of football.

"Our Open Doors Agenda also calls for national association executive committees to include independent, non-executive members and election processes to include formal, rigorous and transparent processes.

“FIFA and confederations, to a certain extent, have been more successful in implementing some of these points, but change will only happen if the 211 national associations also adhere to the same principles.” 

Former investment banker Köksal became the first woman to sit on the European Club Association’s Executive Board having previously served as the General Manager of Galatasaray. 

She explained how once on the ECA board she was treated with respect, but it was getting her foot in the door that proved challenging. 

That is why she and Women in Football believe that rules around diversity and equality must be written into the laws and regulations of associations. 

Women in Football have also responded to the actions of the Spanish football federation and their president Luis Rubiales by calling for policies and sanctions against discrimination and abuse. 

This followed the organisation’s recent survey that found that 82% of its members have experienced some form of discrimination with only 23% feeling able to report it to their employer. 

She added: “23% is so low, it's less than a quarter of women who are facing discrimination who have the belief in the whistleblowing systems to go and report this. 

“So, it's very important that these fit-for-purpose safeguarding and duty of care policies are in place and that accountability is part of the whole procedure as well.  

“And the pathways need to be very clear for reporting and dealing with any kind of abuse and discrimination.” 

Women in Football’s six-point agenda is supported by the work they do empowering women with leadership courses and professional development programmes. 

And that is why Köksal believes they are best placed to answer Infantino’s call. 

“We are not only about campaigning, but we're also about providing solutions and ways to work together with football’s stakeholders,” she explained.  

“Because we believe that you cannot make change happen unless you have most of the decision-makers on your side, so we want to provide the good ideas, the good examples.  

“We have 8,000 members, mostly from the UK, but from all over the world and once again, we've seen that an independent body like ours can sometimes be the voice for those that cannot raise their voice inside their organisations.  

“So, we listened, we heard the cries, and we wanted to act on them.

"We recognise that transformative change can take time and our doors are open to every football organisation that wishes to harness our expertise to help set the roadmap for change."