GENEVA (AP) — Belgian soccer federation president Pascale van Damme is set join FIFA's ruling council after being the only candidate to run for a seat reserved for a female official from Europe.
Van Damme will run unopposed and is set to be elected at a UEFA meeting on April 3 in Belgrade, Serbia, UEFA said Monday.
Van Damme, a former technology industry executive, was elected to lead Belgian soccer less than two years ago. She is in line to get a four-year term in the FIFA post that pays $250,000 annually.
She will replace Evelina Christillin, a former 2006 Turin Olympics official with close ties to the Juventus-owning Agnelli family, who leaves after more than eight years in the role.
In 2016, Christillin was the first woman elected by UEFA to join the 37-member FIFA council.
Each of soccer’s six continental confederations has a place reserved for a woman on the FIFA decision-making body, and none has ever elected a woman in a contested vote against men.
UEFA also is set to re-elect four men to the FIFA council on April 3 without any rival candidates: Răzvan Burleanu of Romania, Georgios Koumas of Cyprus, Bernd Neuendorf of Germany and Dejan Savićević of Montenegro, the former AC Milan star.
All of the European candidates for FIFA positions, each one the president of their national soccer body, met a Jan. 3 deadline to enter the elections and must pass an eligibility check managed by the world soccer body.
UEFA has set a Feb. 3 deadline — two months before the congress in Belgrade — for candidates to enter elections for 10 vacant seats on its own executive committee, including that of David Gill, its treasurer and the former CEO at Manchester United. Gill has reached the 12-year term limit for UEFA elected positions.
One of the 10 vacancies is for a second seat protected for women, joining current UEFA vice president Laura McAllister of Wales who was elected two years ago. Candidates for the second quota place likely will include Norwegian federation president Lise Klaveness.
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FILE - President of Belgian Football Association Pascale van Damme, center, attends the FIFA Congress in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, May 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)
Strong winds that sent wildfires ripping through the mountains and foothills around Los Angeles on Tuesday fed a spectacle of smoke, flames and flight.
Vivid orange flames lit the sky in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, where firefighters dragged hoses to meet blazes flaring up in brush dried out by persistent drought. Others fought to protect structures from the fires.
The fast-moving fires forced residents to evacuate. One woman wept as she stood next to her car as bright flames burned in the background. Another person ran alongside a line of cars as smoke filled the skyline.
Firefighters and homeowners raced to try to beat the flames back. A helicoper dropped water, while a resident used a garden hose to wet the area around his house as fire loomed.
As the Pacific Palisades fire scorched more than 200 acres, billowing smoke was visible for miles. One lone beachgoer carrying a surfboard walked along the coast beneath a dark plume from the fire. Another sat, appearing to glance over her shoulder at a white plume that nearly filled the sky. And a pair of bicyclists pedaled along the beach against an afternoon sky made twilight by the looming smoke.
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Water is dropped on the advancing Palisades Fire by helicopter in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Will Adams uses a garden hose to keep flames from damaging his home as the Palisades Fire advances in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
A residence burns as the Palisades Fire advances in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Flames rise as the Palisades Fire advances on homes in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Will Adams watches as flames from the Palisades Fire close in on his property in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Smoke from a wildfire is seen from the Venice Beach section of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
A lone beachgoer walks along the coast as a large dark plume of smoke passes over the beach from a wildfire from Pacific Palisades, from Santa Monica, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
A lone sunbather sits and watches a large plume of smoke from a wildfire rise over the Pacific Palisades, in Santa Monica, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
Bike riders make their way along the coast as large dark plume of smoke passes over the beach from a wildfire from Pacific Palisades, from Santa Monica, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
A person flees from an advancing wildfire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
Jerome Krausse pushes his mother-in-law in a shopping cart as they evacuate from their home in the Pacific Palisades after a wildfire swept through their neighborhood in Santa Monica, Calif., on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)
People flee from the advancing Palisades Fire, by car and on foot, in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
A woman cries as the Palisades Fire advances in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
A firefighter protects a structure from the advancing Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
A firefighter battles the advancing Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
Firefighters stage in front of the advancing Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
Firefighters battle the advancing Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)
