Football Australia’s chair has admitted he is unhappy with his organisation’s financial performance as the local game faces a raft of challenges including the search for a new chief executive and the A-Leagues’ struggles with debt.
FA recorded an $8.5m loss in 2024 according to the financial accounts presented at Friday’s annual general meeting in Sydney, which included writing off more than $4m in bad debt, some from A-Leagues operator APL.
FA chair, Anter Isaac, said he was “not satisfied” with the loss, which represents almost 7% of revenue, in a year the organisation brought in a record $124m. He revealed FA has invested in “enhanced financial strategy, management and governance systems” to address the financial challenges.
He described 2024 as “a year of strategic investment and structural reset to lay a stronger foundation for our game” but he promised that despite the financial situation meant that there would be no cuts to football programs.
“In a nutshell, it won’t [affect them]. We’re still going to continue serving and supporting all of our national teams and the football community and so forth,” the former president of Football New South Wales said.
Former Matildas player, Heather Garriock, is now working as interim chief executive after the resignation of James Johnson earlier this month.
Taking the position required her to resign as director. Her departure, alongside Jackie Lee-Joe, has left the FA with just two women on its six-person board, below its target of 40%.
“We take inclusivity and diversity very seriously,” Isaac said. “So I expect that within the next four to six weeks, and don’t hold me to that, but definitely no more than eight weeks, we’ll get that addressed.”
Isaac, a sports consultant by trade who was appointed chair in 2023, said the search for a new chief executive has begun, and the board was talking with two recruitment firms as well as football stakeholders.
“We want, moving forward, that anyone that enters or comes into this business understands that this company is an extension of our stakeholders, so this is very different from what’s happened in the past,” he said.
Johnson, the former chief executive, was appointed in 2019 having played football at a high level, and worked at Fifa, the AFC and City Football Group.
Earlier on Friday he was appointed chief executive of Canadian Soccer Business, the entity that handles the commercial rights of Canadian national teams and professional clubs, ahead of the 2026 World Cup in North America.
Garriock, also a former boss of Australian Taekwondo CEO and who has been on the board since 2021, declined to say whether she was seeking to lead the FA permanently. “I’ve been given a mandate from the board in this interim period, and I’m fully focused on the interim period, and I haven’t thought beyond that,” she said.
The cash-strapped APL still owes FA millions of dollars and continues to accrue liabilities for ongoing expenses such as referees. Although Isaac admitted some of his organisation’s $4.1m in write-offs involved debt from the APL, he said FA had no plans to relieve APL of their outstanding obligations.
“We are working hand in hand with them not only on strategic initiatives that will help prosper the game at the professional level and grassroots, but also dealing with some historical matters that we’re very close to resolving,” Isaac said.
Garriock also confirmed the next Matildas coach will be announced in June, allowing eight months of preparations before next year’s Women’s Asian Cup in Australia.
