Jaiyah Saelua, the American Samoan faafafine starring in the film, The Next Goal Wins, is looking forward to her first visit to Switzerland where the world governing body for soccer, FIFA, is based.
The Leone native who has traveled to several continents with the film that tells of the struggles of the American Samoa national soccer team and her experience as a faafafine in the sport of soccer, is a jurist for the inaugural FIFA Diversity Award.
On the panel she rubs shoulders with the likes of Abby Wambach, a member of the US gold winning womens soccer team and Dutch soccer legend Clarence Seedorf.
Jaiyah, who lives in Honolulu, is home for a break and to celebrate her father’s birthday and Fathers’ Day.
She says it’s an honor to be one of the panelists to pick the winner of FIFA’s inaugural Diversity Award.
The award recognizes an individual or organization for their commitment and work towards making football more available to the wider community, not just men and women but other persuasions.
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