Player Development Initiatives supported by FFA Board

Football Federation Australia’s Board of Directors has given approval in principle to a raft of changes that will greatly expand programs to develop talented players in Australia, improve pay and conditions for female players and transform football’s digital platforms to improve service levels to the grassroots while connecting more participants with the Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League.

These initiatives, which are designed to help achieve the objectives outlined in FFA’s four year strategy and Whole of Football Plan, will be confirmed and announced in detail following the completion over the coming weeks of the annual Budget process, an internal review of expenditure and funding model outcomes for the Hyundai A-League/Westfield W-League and Member Federations.

At its meeting last night the Board also received updates on the process to expand FFA’s Congress and work undertaken on the development of a new operating model for the Hyundai A-League/Westfield W-League.  The Board was told that a roadmap on the Congress expansion process would be provided to FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation by 30 April 2017 while analysis of  potential new operating models and expansion options  for both leagues, carried out by FFA in conjunction with Deloitte, would be shared with club owners in the near future.

The Board was also advised that early indications suggest participation in football in Australia will again grow to a new record, with all metrics ahead of the same time last year.

“Overall we have 30,000 more registered participants than at the same time last year, with a 9 percent rise in female outdoor players to 90,000 and 3.5 percent rise in ALDI MiniRoos participants to date,” said FFA CEO David Gallop.

“With the support of our partner ALDI, we are on course to top 220,000 ALDI MiniRoos players for the first time this season. We have also enjoyed an increase in girls taking up the sport with females making up 26.4% of players taking part in our pre-season ALDI MiniRoos Kick-Off programs.

“This is extremely encouraging as we work on a raft of changes to continue to make football the sport of choice for females and improve pay and conditions for professional women players.”