It took almost three full hours, but the cavalry finally came. For two hours and 40 minutes, Football Australia’s annual general meeting was the unfortunate host of a $15.3 million dissection.
Questions were asked about the unprecedented loss posted for 2025, and then asked again in different ways in the hope of eliciting clearer answers. Grievances were aired about the sorry state of the code’s finances and the governance missteps that got it there, and assurances sought that a clear path forward had now been charted (FA said it expected to lose $5 million in 2026 but aimed to break even in 2027).
By the time two of the three nominees vying to fill the governing body’s three available board positions had failed to receive the required number of votes, there was a creeping sense nothing and nobody could rescue a day already destined to be dark.
But then re-elected FA chair Anter Isaac said something about a video message coming through from FIFA. “I haven’t seen the video, so it’s a bit risky,” Isaac added. Moments later, the bright smile of FIFA president Gianni Infantino beamed up on the big screen to tell all the unhappy souls in the room that everything would be all right.
“Dear chairman,” he began. “Dear Anter,” he continued, also addressing the chairman. “Dear Football Australia members, dear friends and colleagues from Football Australia. It is my great pleasure to address your 23rd annual general meeting and to congratulate you on a wonderful year of firsts, of milestones, and of growth, in your beautiful country.”
Infantino gushed about “the great work done by President Anter Isaac and Football Australia to continue building and supporting football in the years following that beautiful tournament” (“that beautiful tournament” was the 2023 Women’s World Cup – the one that was meant to have FA rolling in cash by now).
Infantino proved his Australian football nous by praising the inaugural Australian Championship for “helping to take giant leaps in reuniting old soccer and new football – as you say in your country” and name-dropping South Melbourne as inaugural OFC Pro League runners-up. And, with the Australian flag draped behind him, he wished the Socceroos luck at the upcoming World Cup: “the biggest and most inclusive ever”.
In a way, Infantino’s malapropos cameo was so very Australian football. Because who would be better to improve bad optics than a guy internationally renowned for his capacity to create them? He did, at the very least, take FA’s reported “toxic” working environment and turn it into toxic positivity. The pre-recorded five-minute-and-four-second video, which Isaac said was not planned or expected, was an entertaining – if slightly gaslighty – reprieve from the rest.
And the rest was a lot. It was the unpacking of FA’s 2025 financial results: that record $15m loss which followed the record $8 million loss of 2024 and forced the organisation to cut 20 per cent of its workforce. And the examination of how all-time-high revenues of almost $140m were gobbled away by costs relating to now-resolved disputes with the Australian Professional Leagues, not to mention the $14m rise in employee and team benefit expenses.
Isaac, who answered questions alongside FA’s chief financial officer Adam Santo and chief executive Martin Kugeler, said recommendations from a board-initiated travel and expenditure review – one of numerous reviews conducted – had been fulfilled by the end of 2025. But he was pressed on the $810,000 payment to former board member Jaclyn Lee-Joe for services in relation to FA’s launch of the PlayFootball 2.0 registration platform.
“What was the governance process that was put around that, for her to step off and then be paid that and contracted to deliver that piece of work?” asked Professional Football Australia chief executive, Beau Busch, from a remote video call. Isaac answered: “The payment that was paid to her was a decision that the board made. It did inform Congress FRAC. It did go through FRAC process – the board Finance, Risk, and Audit Committee – as well.”
Shortly thereafter, Football NSW chairman Gilbert Lorquet got to his feet in the room to pose a follow-up question on behalf of some unnamed state federations. “Some members are asking … the point about FRAC,” he said. “Some of the member feds are actually questioning the point you mentioned around discussing [the] Jaclyn Lee-Joe payment. Can you point out when and the hours it was discussed with and agreed by FRAC? And this is coming from someone on FRAC, by the way, from the member feds.”
When Isaac responded to say he did not “have the emails with me now but we’ll find that, we’ll chase that up”, Lorquet pushed further.
“Just in transparency … to say that we’re angry is probably an understatement … this is an AICD case study waiting to happen. I think having a board member sitting there and then knowing if there’s agreements set up previously that they will eventually be paid, I think it’s actually a huge disaster. I think addressing and owning that is important. Once you own that, what is the plan going forward to ensure that those things don’t happen? Because I know there’s another director on the line who’s actually being caught up in a similar situation. It’s not the first time.”
Isaac acknowledged the issue as “a source of frustration for all of us”. “It’s something that the board is very strong on ensuring never happens again,” he said. “It happened unfortunately 10 years ago with another director, and history repeated. I mean, the systems and the policies are very clear about directors not being paid while they’re serving.”
Equally frustrating might have been the exponential shrinking of board candidates to fill the three vacant seats. Three of the initial six, which included Socceroos great Mark Schwarzer, withdrew before the ballot, leaving three contenders in Paul Bittar, Jon Sutton and Mark Goodrick – all nominated by A-Leagues clubs. But neither Sutton nor Goodrick were deemed worthy directors by voters, the bulk of which are state federations, meaning the meeting closed with two vacancies.
FA will seek to fill those immediately and, given Thursday’s amendment to the constitution in line with Australian Sports Commission requirements (as demanded to remain eligible for ASC funding) to stipulate an even gender split, could well be women. Rachel Wiseman was also appointed deputy chair.
In perhaps more encouraging news, chief financial officer Adam Santo said FA was not relying on the Socceroos making a deep World Cup run to break even in 2027. He was also adamant FA did not take out a bank facility despite apparent mentions of it in the report. And Isaac later, under heavy questioning, repeatedly stated, “We’ve written off nothing for the APL” as part of their confidential settlement.
Both he and Kugeler spoke of uncomfortable truths during their respective addresses, with Kugeler lamenting that FA had been “too internally focused” and needed to listen to what fans and participants want and need. Isaac’s pitch involved three prerequisites for a successful future.
“We are deeply focused on and committed to delivering, alignment, sustainability and excellence,” he said. Then Infantino materialised and some must have wondered: what in the name of alignment, sustainability and excellence is he doing here?
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
From our partners
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: www.smh.com.au
