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Moya Dodd is a lawyer and a former international footballer who speaks regularly on issues of equality, diversity, inclusion and integrity, sharing her extensive experience in sport both on and off the field.
Moya is a Partner at Gilbert+Tobin Lawyers, and a former vice-captain of the Australian women's football team, the Matildas. She was one of the first women on the governing boards of FIFA (2013-2016), and the Asian Football Confederation's (2007-2019). She served on the board of Football Federation Australia (2007 - 2017), and its successful Bid Committee to host the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.
As one of the first three women on the FIFA Executive Committee - after 108 years - Moya chaired FIFA's Women's Football Task Force, becoming "the driving force in the recent push for women within FIFA" (New York Times) while leading the #womeninFIFA reform movement. She promoted integrity reforms, and was one of only 3 FIFA board members to return a $25,000 watch. Moya was also a vocal advocate for greater inclusion, working extensively on the successful campaign to allow women to play in the headscarf (hijab), and on the (not-yet-successful) campaign for Iranian women to enter stadiums.
Moya has served on the board of the Centre for Sport and Human Rights (2020 - 21), on the IOC's Athlete's Entourage Commission, and on the governing body of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (2014 - 2022).
A former international player for Australia (1986 - 1995), she was educated at Adelaide University where she gained an Honours degree in Law and edited the student newspaper On Dit. She worked as a Judge's Associate at the Supreme Court, then spent her early career in private practice and in-house legal roles at Telstra, while completing her MBA at the Australian Graduate School of Management (UNSW). She then worked for Fairfax in digital media, and in consulting roles in the media and telecommunications industries, before returning to the law at Gilbert+Tobin.
Currently, Moya advises the World Leagues Forum (the industry body for professional football leagues) on women's football, creating a platform for the world's top women's leagues to share information, exchange best practice and pursue progress in the professionalisation of the women's game. She also consults to sports and government bodies (such as the AIS) on governance issues, well-being and culture in high performance sport.
She chairs Common Goal, a non-profit through which professional footballers donate 1% of their salary to football programs that enhance the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Moya makes regular speaking and media appearances, and contributes to leading publications (such as the Sydney Morning Herald) on issues of sport and society. She co-hosts Gilbert + Tobin's competition law podcast, The Competitive Edge.
Her work has been widely recognised.
Moya was listed in World Soccer magazines People of the Year in 2013, and named as the overall winner of the prestigious AFR 'Women of Influence' awards and Women's Health magazines 'Person of Sporting Influence' in 2016. That year, she also received the IOC Women and Sport Award for Oceania, and was named in BOSS Magazine's Outstanding 50 LGBT+ Leaders.
In 2018, Moya was named the 7th most powerful woman in international sport (outside the US) by Forbes magazine, and in 2020 she was named in WICC's global "Best XI" for advancing women's soccer. She was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Adelaide in 2021, and inducted into Football Australia's Hall of Fame in 2022, and received SA's Excellence in Women's Leadership Award from Women & Leadership Australia in 2023.
Her story - from her childhood home in an Adelaide fire station to the highest echelons of FIFA - was commissioned by the Adelaide Festival of Arts where she wrote and performed Backstories in 2017, directed by William Yang and Annette Shun Wah, with further performances at Sydney's Carriageworks in 2018.
She recently (and somewhat foolishly) registered for her 43rd year of playing football.
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