Brisbane Roar announce trio of General Manager appointments

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Brisbane Roar
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Brisbane Roar has announced that Matt Smith and Ante Kovacevic have joined the club as General Managers.

The Roar have also appointed long-serving employee Rizka Laya as General Manager – Club Services, which will effectively see Laya, Smith and Kovacevic combine as a General Manager trio going forward.

The appointments reaffirm Brisbane Roar’s commitment to adding senior executive resources to develop both the Club’s football and administration departments.

Smith will oversee marketing, communications, and membership activities in his role as General Manager – Commercial. The former Brisbane Roar captain is known for playing 112 games for the Club, including winning three Isuzu UTE A-League Championships. He also has a strong background in marketing holding a Bachelor’s in Marketing and Leisure Management from the University of Gloucestershire.

Smith also holds a Master’s in Sport Management from Hartpury University and has an extensive football development pedigree from his roles as Football Director, NPL Technical Director and First Team Head Coach at Brisbane City for the past three years.

Smith is excited to be back with the Brisbane Roar as the Club restructures.

“I was extremely privileged to be part of the Club’s amazing successes in the past and look forward to creating history in the future,” he said via press release.

“Since I left the Club in 2014, I’ve always been keeping a close eye on the team and how they’ve been playing as well as the club and its progress.

“I’m excited to play a key role in trying to continue to build the Club and I’m looking forward to working with the staff and different communities involved with Brisbane Roar.

“When I was a player, the culture and environment at the Club was one of inclusiveness and good people, so I think a key role is to form an environment and culture people are proud to be associated with.

“The internal and external stakeholders are pushing for one goal and I’m very confident that with the restructure the Club has started to initiate that there are good times ahead.”

Kovacevic’s appointment to General Manager – Club will see him bring a wealth of experience and expertise.

Joining the Roar from Western United Football Club, where he was the General Manager of Football, Kovacevic has also overseen Football Operations at Perth Glory (2009-2015) and was the General Manager of Football at Adelaide United (2015-2019).

While at Adelaide, Kovacevic was part of their A-League Championship in 2015/16 as well as the Australia Cup in 2018 and 2019.

During his playing career, Kovacevic enjoyed spells at National Soccer League teams Melbourne Knights, Adelaide City FC, and South Melbourne FC. The introduction of the A-League in 2005 saw Kovacevic sign with Perth Glory, where he made 32 appearances.

On his appointment, Kovacevic is rapt to have joined Brisbane Roar.

“I am excited to have joined Brisbane Roar, a club that has proven it can be successful on and off the field. This is where we want to see it headed in the near future” Kovacevic said via press release.

Kovacevic will review all football systems at the Club to build and improve upon what is currently in place while ensuring all areas of the football department continue to operate effectively.

“Queensland has a great number of footballers playing the game and has always managed to produce quality footballers for the NPL, A-Leagues and National teams. We want to continue to ensure the Brisbane Roar is an integral part to this development system and work together with all football stakeholders,” Kovacevic said via the Roar.

Laya has been a familiar face at Brisbane Roar for almost a decade, and her appointment to a General Manager role is set to continue strengthening the Club’s administrative and club services.

As the Club’s longest serving employee, she will continue to manage game operations and back-office administrative services that support the Club’s operation and governance systems, providing important support across the football department.

Laya is looking forward to the opportunity to take on this new challenge.

“I am grateful that the club noticed my efforts after working hard over the years. This is an exciting opportunity for me, and I am looking forward to taking on the responsibilities and making the most of it,” she said via press release.

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Football South Australia renews partnership with Datacord as Community Football Commitment Deepens

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Image Credit: Football SA

Football South Australia has announced the renewal of its partnership with Datacord, continuing a relationship that has grown steadily since the South Australian print and document solutions provider first entered the football community as naming rights sponsor of the Collegiate Soccer League Division 1.

That initial agreement, which saw Datacord align with one of Adelaide’s most historic amateur competitions, marked the beginning of what has since developed into a broader commitment to South Australian football at every level. The renewed partnership extends Datacord’s involvement beyond the CSL and into the wider Football SA ecosystem, with clubs across the state now able to access exclusive offers and preferred pricing on photocopying, managed print services and tailored business solutions.

The practical value of that access should not be understated. Community football clubs operate on tight margins, relying heavily on volunteer administrators managing everything from registration paperwork to grant applications. Cost-effective print and document solutions reduce the operational burden on those volunteers, a small but meaningful contribution to the sustainability of clubs that form the backbone of the game in South Australia.

“George is a great supporter of sport in South Australia and we are delighted to have Datacord as a supporter of football,” said Football SA CEO Michael Carter. “Service is second to none and we highly recommend their services to the business community within the Football Family.”

For Datacord Managing Director George Koutsoubis, the renewal reflects a genuine investment in the community rather than a transactional commercial arrangement. “It is important to support the local community, and Football South Australia is the perfect place to start spreading the word about Datacord and what we do for the South Australian community,” he said. “We are locally owned and operated, and I think it is a great partnership to be part of.”

Football NSW releases $600,000 towards Grassroots Grants to meet Participation Pressure

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The Victorian State Government has announced new grants and funding for 11 new community infrastructure projects for local football clubs, totalling $3.8 million.
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Sixty-five football clubs across New South Wales have secured a combined total of nearly $600,000 in funding through the NSW Office of Sport’s Local Sports Grant Program. It follows as a result of Football NSW’s scale of demand for community sport support and the growing pressure on clubs struggling to keep pace with surging participation.

The grants, covering 69 individual projects across the Football NSW footprint, will fund facility upgrades, equipment purchases, participation programs and accessibility improvements: the unglamorous but essential infrastructure that determines whether community clubs can function at the level their members require.

The Local Sports Grant Program made up to $4.65 million available statewide in 2025, with $50,000 allocated to each electoral district and individual grants capped at $20,000. Football’s share of nearly $600,000 reflects the sport’s status as the largest participation code in NSW, and the degree to which that status has not always been matched by corresponding investment in the facilities and resources required to sustain it.

Volunteers carrying an unsustainable load

The announcement arrives against a backdrop of mounting pressure on the volunteer workforce that keeps community football operational. Across NSW, thousands of volunteers dedicate significant unpaid time each week to administration, ground preparation, canteen operation and the logistical demands of running competitive junior and senior programs. As participation numbers climb, driven in part by the sustained visibility of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup and the legacy of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, those demands have intensified without a corresponding increase in the resources available to meet them.

“As the largest participation sport in NSW it is pleasing to see almost $600,000 will be reinvested back into supporting our players, coaches, referees and volunteers to improve the football experience across our community clubs,” said Helen Armson, Football NSW’s Group Head of Strategic Partnerships and Corporate Affairs.

The equity dimension

The distribution of the grants across 65 clubs and 69 projects also speaks to the geographic breadth of football’s footprint in NSW, and to the uneven distribution of resources that has historically characterised community sport in this country. Clubs in outer metropolitan and regional areas tend to operate with smaller budgets, older facilities and thinner volunteer bases than their inner-city counterparts. Grant programs structured around electoral allocation, rather than club size or existing resource base, provide a degree of equity that market-driven funding cannot.

The kinds of projects funded under this program disproportionately benefit clubs serving communities where the barriers to participation are highest. A club that cannot offer adequate facilities or equipment is a club that turns players away, often without intending to.

Football NSW has used the announcement to call on the NSW Government to maintain and extend its investment in the sport. “We urge the government to continue to invest in football,” Armson said, in the midst for a nation-wide push for a $343 million decade-long infrastructure fund to address the facilities gap across the state.

The nearly $600,000 secured through this round is meaningful. Against the scale of what is needed, it is also a measure of how far the investment still has to go.

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