McAllister captained the Welsh national team and earned 24 caps between 1994 and 2001. 

If elected to the FIFA Council, McAllister would become the first female member who has also played football at an international level. 

McAllister is currently professor of public policy and governance of Wales at Cardiff University and has served as FAW Trust Board director and vice-chair for more than 12 years. 

She has also held the position of UEFA Women's Football Committee deputy chair since 2016. 

Previously, McAllister was Sport Wales chair from 2010 to 2016 and has been a UK Sport Board member.

"The opportunity to stand for FIFA Council election is a particularly exciting challenge and one I look forward to immensely," McAllister said. 

"My experience and expertise of the game and its governance will hopefully assure colleagues across Europe that I will be the superior candidate to represent them on the Council of world football’s governing body."

The election of the European members of the FIFA Council is scheduled to take place on April 20 at the UEFA Congress, with the 55 member associations set to cast their votes. 

The Congress was today delayed from March to April.

"I am delighted to put forth Laura McAllister as a candidate in the knowledge that she would be a formidable representative on FIFA Council," said FAW chief executive Jonathan Ford. 

"Laura has excellent credentials with an immense understanding of both the game and governance, and we look forward to supporting her campaign for election."

It will be McAllister's second attempt at joining the FIFA Council, having been blocked from doing so in 2016 by a regulation which has since been changed.

England's David Gill was a FIFA vice-president at the time, which meant no other British person could apply to sit on the main decision-making body of football's world governing organisation.

Italian sports official Evelina Christillin is the current UEFA female representative on the FIFA Council.