Members of Football Federation Australia’s Congress have not passed a resolution which would have increased representation for women, professional clubs and professional players.
Seven of the 10 Members voted in favour of the resolution but with more than 75 percent approval required to pass, the outcome fell just short of the threshold required. The result means that FFA’s constitution remains unchanged and the Congress continues with its current membership – one representative each from the nine Member Federations and one representing the Hyundai A-League clubs.
FFA will now formally communicate the outcome to football’s world governing body FIFA, which had instructed Australian football’s stakeholders to agree on expansion of the Congress by today’s date. “We have all been discussing and debating this for more than a year,” said FFA Chairman Steven Lowy AM. “We are disappointed that the Members were unable to agree sufficiently on expansion of the Congress for the measure to pass.
“Throughout this long process the FFA board has had two objectives: to expand the Congress so that Australian football is better represented within our governance arrangements and is more in line with FIFA practise around the world; and to preserve the model that ensures FFA’s directors continue to be independent and make decisions in the best interests of the whole of the game,” he said.
“We will now talk to FIFA about what steps can now be taken to resolve this issue so that we have a larger, more representative Congress.
“In the meantime we remain keen to create a new separate operating model for the Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League, working closely with the clubs and other relevant stakeholders.
“A new separate operating model for the leagues will provide a better return to club owners – new and existing – and is the key to attracting more capital into the game and expanding the league. This in turn is critical to improving our commercial performance so that we can fund other aspects of football development in Australia and of course our national teams.
“We will also continue the process of identifying the right person to take the Caltex Socceroos to Russia in June and prepare the Westfield Matildas for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup in April.”