Football
AAP 6y

FFA foes Football NSW and Football Victoria join congress review

Two of the major dissenters against the FFA in Australian football's civil war will help shape what the future of the sport's governance looks like.

The nine state federations have nominated Football NSW and Football Victoria -- which both sided with clubs against the national body over proposed reform -- to sit on the FIFA-mandated "congress review working group."

They will be joined by Football South Australia and Football West, an FFA representative, two members from the Australian Professional Football Clubs Association and a Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) representative.

Victoria and NSW's decision to vote against FFA's proposal for a reshaped congress at their AGM late last year put the national governing body's at risk of being replaced by a "normalisation committee."

Instead, FIFA spared chairman Steven Lowy and his directors from the axe and opted for a more diplomatic solution in pushing for an eight-member congress working group to be formed.

One of the group's next big moves will be to appoint an independent chairperson with no ties to FFA or any other stakeholders.

It will be chair's responsibility to ensure the working group fulfils its mandate to put forward a new structure for the FFA congress that includes a "broader and more balanced" representation of stakeholders, and bring the governing body in line with FIFA's statutes.

The group will take into account other issues, including the governance model of the A-League, with clubs keen to take over the running of the ailing competition from FFA, as well as the composition and independence of the FFA board.

The working group has been ordered to deliver its proposal to FIFA and the AFC by July 31, which must be submitted by September 7 at a special general FFA meeting.

^ Back to Top ^