Mallam in Football Australia top of heap role

Image: Football Australia

Football Australia recently announced the appointment of Mel Mallam as General Counsel.

‘Football Australia’ stated that Mallam returns to Australia having lived in Zürich, Switzerland, for the past 15 years working with several global brands and will commence with Football Australia on October 1^st, 2022.

Football Australia is the governing body of soccer, futsal and beach soccer within Australia, headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, Football Australia in its current form was only established in 1961 as the Australian Soccer Federation.

‘Football Australia’ further stated that as part of Mallam’s previous roles, she worked on two FIFA World Cups™, the London 2012 Olympic Games and an array of International and European Summer and Winter sporting events. Mallam’s first job in sport was also at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

At FIFA, Mallam negotiated some of the world’s first digital media agreements in sport – with Facebook, Twitter and Google, including the development of the first application for FIFA for the FIFA World Cup™. This led her to segue into technology, working for the global technology company Parallels as their Global General Counsel (Software and Platform as a Service) and then as Head of Legal and Compliance for fast-growing unicorn track Swiss scale-up Beekeeper -software as a service (SaaS) product for frontline workers.

Mallam has also previously held roles as Head of Legal and Compliance for Swiss watchmaker Breitling, Managing Director of Repucom in Switzerland, Senior Legal Counsel with the European Broadcasting Union/Eurovision (the European alliance of public service media), and as Commercial Legal Counsel with FIFA when she joined them as one of the first Australians to do so in 2008.

Football Australia Chief Executive Officer (CEO), James Johnson, was delighted to appoint Mallam, who will be a member of the Football Australia Executive Leadership Team, to such an important and expanded role as the organization continues to drive forward the bold and ambitious 15-year vision embodied by the ‘XI Principles for the Future of Australian Football’.

Observed Johnson, “Mel will bring an outstanding set of skills, experience and football acumen to Football Australia. She was the strongest candidate in an extensive recruitment process and will play a key role in Australian football. Mel is not just a lawyer who likes football or works in sport. She has formal academic sports law qualifications, experience as an athlete and administrator and an understanding of both football and sport from grassroots to elite. Mel previously sat on several sporting association boards including Capital Football.”

Added Johnson, “Mel is well placed to help drive our strategic agenda and our football structural reform, commercial, regulatory, governance, and integrity priorities. Mel’s 20 years of experience covers leadership roles across a number of global organizations and industries including with FIFA in Zürich, and we look forward to welcoming her back to her place of birth, Australia.”

Mallam grew up on a farm in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales and was one of the first to graduate with Australia’s first ever double degrees in Sport and Law at the Southern Cross University in Lismore, Australia.

Mallam said she was excited to be returning to Australia and join Football Australia in this key role – “Football took me to Switzerland 15 years ago to work with FIFA and now it is bringing me home to work for Football Australia in my home State of New South Wales. I look forward to joining Football Australia at such an exciting period for the sport and being part of the new management team, which is driving a fresh 15-year vision and clear strategic agenda for the sport.”

Continue to follow Coliseum for latest updates on venues business news. Coliseum is dedicated towards building the best global community of sports and entertainment venue executives and professionals creating better and more profitable venues.

Become a member of the only Global Sports Venue Alliance and connect with stadiums, arenas and experts from around the world. Apply for membership at coliseum-online.com/alliance and make use of the 365Coliseum Business.

• Tags »
• Australia
• Football Australia
• General Counsel
• Mel Mallam

« Previous News: Populous oeuvre Allianz Field Green steward
» Next News: Liverpool F.C. fans ordeal at UEFA Paris show