FIFA: AFC vice-president Moya Dodd agrees with Sepp Blatter's comments

Asian Football Confederation vice-president Moya Dodd insists Sepp Blatter was right when he said football is "very macho" ahead of the U20 World Cup in Canada last month.

Blatter was condemned in some quarters for his frank comments after responding to a question about the reasons why there were so few women in football governance.

But Dodd, who was speaking at the 2014 Global Soccerex Convention in Manchester on Tuesday, said the FIFA president was simply being honest and praised the organisation for trying to redress the balance.

"I think the FIFA president is right when he said that, and his point was that FIFA has been leading some of the changes in the game - changes it would look to see saturated all the way through," Dodd told Sky Sports News HQ.

"These include opportunities for women to get on the executive committee of FIFA. There were some development principles passed at the development congress in Brazil which said every country’s member association should include women at all decision-making levels, including on the executive committee.

I think the FIFA president (Blatter) is right when he said that, and his point was that FIFA has been leading some of the changes in the game - changes it would look to see saturated all the way through.

"I think I got here by accident to be honest. I’m a former player. I played on our national team and I joined the exco (executive committee) of the Australia federation in 2007, around the time Australia joined Asia.

2Asia had just created special positions for women on its exco and I finished up with one of those then FIFA did the same a little later, so it’s not something you really could have planned, it’s just about taking the opportunities to contribute to the game as they arise."

Dodd admits sexism in football remains an issue, adding she would like to see more diversity across the board in sport.

"There’s lot of sexism in the world and inevitably there is in football too," she added.

"I see it broadly around the world manifested in all sorts of ways, from women who can’t play at all to others who feel they don’t have the same opportunities or ability to get a coaching course.

"It’s well recognised in corporate spheres and in governments that diversity produces better outcomes and that’s also true of sport."