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New FFA CEO James Johnson has outlined his vision and priorities and says he can’t see any reason not to have a second-tier competition below the A-League.
Newly appointed Football Federation Australian CEO James Johnson says he can’t see any reason why there shouldn’t be a second-tier competition below the A-League.
Johnson has outlined his vision and list of priorities, which include unbundling the A-league from FFA, the joint Australia-New Zealand bid for the 2023 Women’s World Cup and reviewing the different domestic competitions.
“We don’t have a second-tier competition, but these discussions are happening and I don’t see any reason why we cannot have a second-tier competition,” Johnson said on Wednesday.
“But what does a second-tier competition look like in a sporting framework like Australia? That’s a question that we’re going to have to answer.
“I’d like to look at the FFA Cup also the NPL and how we grow these products.”
He nominated three initial priorities.
“We need to set the organisation (FFA) up internally for transformational change, from an organisation that is local to one that is able to act local but also think and act globally,” Johnson said.
“The other two points are the unbundling of the A-League. The quicker we can get the governance model where it’s a win-win relationship, I think the better for us, for the whole football community and the A-League.
“I think the third priority is the Women’s World cup because that decision is in June and time is working against us.
The joint Australia-New Zealand bid is up against competition from Brazil, Colombia and Japan.
Australian football has traditionally been beset and held back by competing interests and Johnson wants to see FFA become a unifying force.
“I’d like to see the FFA be able to connect the game together but also connect the different stakeholders with each other, connect government, commercial partners. I think this is a role that the FFA can play,” he said.
Johnson said other issues included looking at whether registration costs were too high and the possibility of incentivising clubs to develop players.
© AAP
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