Football Federation Australia closes consultations on XI Principles for the future of Australian football

Football Federation Australia (FFA) today announced it had concluded its consultations on the XI Principles for the future of Australian football (XI Principles) after the discussion paper was launched on 2 July 2020. 

FFA Chief Executive James Johnson said, “Since launching the XI Principles, FFA has undertaken a rigorous process of consultation with both Congress Members and special interest groups amongst the football community. 

“In total, FFA conducted twenty-three (23) consultations via Zoom over a period of three (3) weeks with each consultation providing a unique perspective of football in Australia. We also concluded a series of broader surveys on each of the XI Principles targeted at our vast football family across the country with over 3,100 responses being received. 

“The XI Principles have been received extremely positively with stakeholders and the football community expressing general support and excitement for the XI Principles.  

“We received a broad range of feedback from the look, feel and tone of the document, to more complex discussions around the overall governance and administration of the game.” 

FFA has begun the process of synthesising all of the feedback and data it has received since launching the XI Principles. 

Johnson added, “We have been excited to learn that a good majority of survey respondents ‘welcomed’ the launch of the XI Principles and were ‘excited’ by the vision for what Australian football might look like in fifteen (15) years’ time.  

“An overwhelming number of respondents think that Australian football needs transformation. Our football community also showed strong support for a number of the key proposed measures which FFA has advanced such as the implementation of a modern domestic transfer system to incentivise clubs to invest in the training and development of players. 

“Our football community also overwhelmingly agree that the governance and administration of football in Australia needs to be improved and requires change.” 

Once the feedback and data has been collected, FFA will look to refresh the XI Principles which will be used as a platform towards a Whole of Game Strategy for Australian football.  

“One thing that is clear from the feedback and surveys is that Australian football needs a clear and unified strategy for the game. The XI Principles deliberately only spoke to the ‘What’ and the ‘Why’ of football in Australia. Our next step is to develop a Whole of Game Strategy which unites the game and importantly, speaks to the ‘Who’, ‘When’ and the ‘How’. We will share more detail about this next phase in the coming weeks”, Johnson added. 

“The transformation of Australian football has already begun. The granting of co-hosting rights to Australia was a watershed moment for Australian football and a significant step towards the vision we have set ourselves. In the last few weeks alone, we have taken more steps in pursuit of the XI Principles, including the appointment of Jane Fernandez as Head of our 2023 Women’s World Cup office – in pursuit of Principle X, growing the women’s game. 

“Today we also announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Football Coaches Australia, bringing to life one of a number of proposed measures which we advanced in pursuit of Principle VI.

“We’ve got more on the horizon and we look forward to going on this journey with the Australian football public.

“We are grateful to all those who took the time to have their say on the future of Australian football and we look forward to sharing this journey with you,” Johnson concluded.