Football Australia appoints Martin Kugeler as new CEO

Football Australia's long search for a leader has concluded, after the federation announced on Thursday that former Stan Sport chief Martin Kugeler had been appointed as its next chief executive officer.

Set to commence his role on February 16, Hamburg-born Kugeler joins Football Australia after departing Stan amid a restructuring of the streaming provider a year ago. His exit brought to an end a decade-long tenure with the platform, the last four years of which had been spent as chief executive after previously serving as the organisation's chief financial officer and its director of strategy, sport, business development and product. Prior, he worked in media and communications across both Australia and Germany, including a near-decade long stint with German conglomerate Bertelsmann.

He steps into a role that had been filled on an interim basis by former Matilda Heather Garriock, who resigned from the board to assume the position after James Johnson ended a five-and-a-half-year tenure when he stepped down last May. His arrival also comes just weeks after the A-League announced that its vacant chief executive role was being filled by former AFL executive Steve Rosich - bringing to an end an extended period in which the two highest footballing bodies in Australia were led by interims.

"I think about my first 100 days, my first 100 days will be building connections and relationships with the Football Australia team, but also then with all stakeholders," he told media at his unveiling. "It's so important that all stakeholders work united.

"Our common goal is to grow the game, to make the game better and more accessible for everyone. For the first 100 days, an important part is engaging with all stakeholders and seeing how we can work best together and where there might be some differences in opinion, and work through that."

Garriock will now transition to a deputy chief executive role in addition to taking up a newly created executive director of football position. Possessing a greater remit than a technical director or the short-lived chief football officer position, the posting was described as wielding "end-to-end responsibility of the football pillar from national teams, competitions, development pathways, participation and related international affairs" by chair Anter Issac. A head of men's and head of women's football will be created to report to Garriock as part of the reshuffle, which will see her work in consultation with head of national teams Gary Moretti in providing oversight to the Socceroos and Matildas.

"The ability of this role is to be able to focus," said Gariock, who also confirmed that a "talent development ecosystem audit" had recently been completed. "I actually haven't been able to, as interim CEO, focus on the strategic direction of football, to work with our head of national teams and to bring football together within the organization so technical is working with national teams and competitions, because they're vitally important."

Kugeler's appointment comes at the start of a significant year for Football Australia, with the Matildas set to begin a home Women's Asian Cup in less than two months. The Socceroos will then take part in the Men's World Cup in North America in June, with coach Tony Popovic's contract set to expire following that tournament. Issac has also committed the federation to supporting new second-tier competition the Australian Championship for five years, adding to the federation's responsibilities to oversee the Australia Cup and junior national teams, serve as regulator for the in-flux A-Leagues, and foster the game's participation base and grassroots.

Football Australia itself has experienced significant staff turnover, particularly at the executive level, since Johnson's departure, notably the exits of former chief football officer Ernie Merrick (who the Sydney Morning Herald reported in November is pursuing legal action over his redundancy), chief financial officer Caroline Veitch, and chief customer, brand and marketing officer Peter Filopoulos.

The federation had flagged moves to 'right-size' the business as it seeks to return to surplus after a record-setting AU$8.5 million loss in 2025, with Garriock indicating on Wednesday that a corporate strategy taking it through 2029 had recently been completed.

"Over the course of the last nine months, a lot of attention and focus have been placed on making the organisation sustainable," said Issac. "But sustainability is not just about financial sustainability. It's about being able to sustainably deliver the services and support we need to deliver at a high level. So, in terms of right-sizing, too many times, people infer that to mean a reduction.

"The way I would see it is more of a football team's formation... the leadership from the executive and management need to be able to have that flexibility to ensure that in the areas that we need attention, focus, resource and capability, they're able to [provide] that. That'll be an ongoing thing."

After overseeing the launch of Stan Sport, Kugeler was in charge when the streaming service moved into the football space by acquiring rights to broadcast the UEFA Champions League and other UEFA competitions in 2021. It continued to bolster its football offerings in subsequent years, most notably last June when it added the English Premier League to its stable after purchasing rights owned by closing-down Optus Sport.

However, Australian football was absent from the platform during his tenure, with Paramount extending an agreement with Football Australia in 2024 to broadcast Socceroos and Matildas for a further four years, in a deal that also included rights for the 2026 Women's Asian Cup, 2027 Men's Asian Cup, and the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup. The first year of the Championship, meanwhile, was broadcast on SBS. But with those rights likely to come back up for negotiation, however, it's an obvious area where the new chief executive will be expected to lead.

"I think there are commercial opportunities across the board," said Kugeler. "I believe that there are so many opportunities, but also a necessity to leverage those opportunities. It's about growth and innovation. And there's no doubt, if we want to achieve the ambition that we have to grow revenues in all areas, that includes our commercial partners. That might be in the broadcast rights, that might be new revenue sources. That will be very important.

"What's important for us is building commercial and football excellence in the team. It has to go hand in hand, because without football excellence -- the success of the national teams, the love that people feel [when] connected to the teams -- the commercial success builds on that."

Click here to read article