Growing International Partnerships

Football Australia’s International Partnerships business unit was established shortly after Australia’s hosting of the 2015 AFC Asian Cup, with a focus on developing stronger connections with counterpart organisations across Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific.

Since foundation, the business unit has worked extensively with Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, football organisations, non-government organisations and community groups across now more than 50 countries, often leveraging Australian National Football Teams traveling through the region.

The business unit is responsible for international partnership development, tendering for and managing the business’ international programming, building the cross-cultural capability of Football Australia and Australia’s National Football Teams, immigration and human mobility matters, international logistics, and more.

Some themes of work I’ve led or contributed to can be found below, and a selection of the larger scale projects have their own place in other places on this website - take a look!

Government Partnership for Foreign Policy Milestones

Football Australia has been a partner of choice for the Australian Government and Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade to support a number of foreign policy milestones and programs.

Gender Equality Symposium (‘23)

The Gender Equality Symposium was the signature international leveraging event organised and delivered by the Australian Government during the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.

Occurring on the sidelines of the group stage, it was attended by more than 200 leaders, advocates, academics, and athletes from Australia and across the world. There was Minister, Secretary, and Ambassadorial representation from a number of countries including Australia and the United States.

Guests reflected on the broad benefits to communities when women and girls receive the support to realise their full potential through sport.

ASEAN-Australia Special Summit (‘18) - (pictured right)

The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Australia Special Summit was the first ASEAN-Australia Heads of Government summit to be hosted in Australia. Football Australia was the sporting partner for the week of activity, delivering an ASEAN-focused women’s leadership program, a match between Australia and Thailand’s U-20 Women’s National Football Teams, and an ASEAN Football Federation Council Meeting.

Australia @ Expo 2020 Dubai (‘19-22)

Australia’s first involvement at a World Expo in over a decade, Football Australia delivered the first public activity on Australia’s plot of land in Dubai, with the Socceroos visiting alongside Australia’s Commissioner-General to Expo, Justin McGowan.

Australia now (‘21, 19, 17)

Australia now is a flagship public diplomacy program from the Australian Government, celebrating and exploring Australia’s bilateral relationships with other countries. Football Australia was involved in the Malaysia, ASEAN and Germany editions, delivering activity focused on women’s football and sport as a vehicle for social development.

Partnership Activity

Football Australia supports community focused initiatives, groups and organisations, with Australian National Football Teams, Players or Administrators working alongside counterpart football Member Associations or the in-country Australian Embassy.

Sometimes this engagement leverages a visiting Australian National Football Team, or otherwise they take the form of dedicated ‘Sports Envoy’ type missions where Australians are traveling for the express purpose of participating in football activities.

Collaborations have included skills clinics, guest speaking and coaching, sharing of expertise, and team meet and greets, typically with a focus on supporting healthy lifestyles, empowering women and girls to get involved in sport, or helping the next generation of aspiring athletes take their game to the next level.

This is now a cornerstone of Football Australia’s international programming with Member Associations and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade. I built out this area of the International Partnerships business unit, and project managed a number of the in-country collaborations. As of December 2023, more than 35 visits had occurred across 20 different countries.

International Program Management

Football Australia has worked with international partners on multi-year sport-for-development programs across Asia and the Pacific.

In 2009, a sport-for-development program called Just Play was developed in collaboration with the Oceania Football Confederation and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, which communicates critical social messages through football.

These messages are aligned around key programming pillars, addressing topics such as water, hygiene and sanitation (WASH), gender equality, social inclusion and health (with a focus on reducing risk factors associated with non-communicable disease).

Since inception, 230,000 children have participated in the program, and training has been delivered to 2,700 volunteers.

From 2016 - 2018, I was the Australian lead and program manager for Just Play’s international expansion to Asia, starting with a launch in India, which saw the completion of two pilots - first in the state of Kerala, and then in the state of Maharashtra.

From 2018 - 2019, I filled a similar role, supporting the Football Association of Indonesia with the incorporation of sport-for-development elements into Indonesia’s introductory football coaching course, and building training capacity in their national network of instructors. I worked alongside counterparts from the DFB (German Football Association), GIZ (the main development agency of the German Government), FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation.

Supporting Executives

A number of senior Australian football administrators serve in elected capacities on international football’s decision-making or advisory bodies.

I supported Football Australia Chairman Chris Nikou’s campaign for a seat on the Asian Football Confederation Executive Committee in 2019 (image, right), and then-Football Australia board member Moya Dodd’s campaign for a seat on the FIFA Council in 2017.

Cross-Cultural Capacity Building

Over the course of a four year cycle (‘16-19), Australian National Football Teams visited 42 different countries across 5 continents to participate in tournaments, one-off matches, or for diplomatic tours in partnership with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade.

These international trips see frequent engagements with foreign media, Heads of State and government figures, as well as activity with local community groups, and as such, have a much higher public profile than most groups or individuals traveling overseas.

To support teams operating in different contexts, I routinely delivered activity or country-specific briefings to playing groups prior to departure.

Commercial Opportunity

Australian National Football Teams are regularly active in markets of high relevance to the Australian economy, with 81 touchpoints - either team visits or matches - to Australia’s top ten trading partners over a four year cycle.

I’ve worked with Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, the Australian Trade & Investment Commission and Football Australia’s commercial partners at various times to create additional opportunities to be leveraged in overseas markets, most frequently in the form of corporate events centered around team activity.

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FIFA Women's World Cup 2023

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Australian National Team Tours