Large staff cut part of ‘significant restructure’ for Football Australia

A second-straight financial loss is concerning fans ahead of the men’s and women’s World Cups, but senior management promises it will enable greater investment in the sport.

Amid a reported loss exceeding last year’s deficit of $8.5 million, Football Australia (FA) is anticipating to reduce staff by 20 per cent, in a move that is aimed to position the organisation within its new financial means.

As reported by AAP, chief executive Martin Kugeler said: “Two significant losses, and increasing losses year on year, is obviously not a situation that is sustainable or acceptable.”

Kugeler was appointed in January of this year, marking the organisation’s self-proclaimed “new era” for Football Australia.

Some of the losses, Kugeler continued, related to one-off deals, but he characterised the downsizing as a way to “set up the organisation to deliver financial resilience, to deliver room for investment and growth in the future and to invest in the right areas of the business that ultimately will future-proof and will grow our sport”.

“What that means is I had to make obviously very difficult decisions around roles and make a significant number of roles redundant, so we will ultimately reduce the people here working at Football Australia,” he said.

The organisation conducted a full staff meeting regarding its financial position on Tuesday (19 May), and held personal meetings with all affected employees.

Via a consultation process, it was decided that some new roles may be created, but FA still anticipated a staff “net reduction of over 20 per cent”.

The move has surprised some in the wake of a host of successful football campaigns by the Australian women’s and men’s teams, with Kugeler acknowledging the financial side needs to meet the same standard.

He maintained the national teams and FA-run competitions will not be affected by the restructure.

The organisation plans to hold its next Annual General Meeting in 28 May, with more details expected to emerge at this time.

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