Football Queensland release 2024-2026 Women & Girls Strategy

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Image credit: Football Queensland

Football Queensland has released its ambitious new 2024-2026 Women & Girls Strategy, focusing on achieving the wider Football Australia (FA) objective of 50/50 gender parity in participants, referees, committees, and club officials by 2027.

To maintain and enhance the 44% increase in women’s participation in the sport, Football Queensland has organised its program into 3 Strategic Pillars, presenting the certain initiatives they wish to undertake and key performance indicators (KPIs) they wish to achieve.

Pillar 1: Participation and Clubs

This Pillar is based on creating a culture of inclusivity and diversity in the sport for women to feel valued and empowered to play, coach, administer and referee football at every level.

Their plans include:

  • Conducting a deep analysis of club data to identify key clubs and areas for women’s participation and share their practices at a state level.
  • Expand certain initiatives and develop partnerships that will enhance all facets of the women’s game. Including the Girls United program and higher education girl-tailored scholarships.
  • Taking a stronger focus on women and girls refereeing with tailored training programs, recruitment campaigns and courses.
  • Developing their promotional strategy and pathways to better represent and retain girls’ and women’s participation.

The targets include:

62,000 women and girl players, 1,800 female referees and 5,700 Girls United participants by 2026. Also, they want 100% of Queensland club boards, committees and FQ members meeting the 40/40/20 gender representation by 2027.

Pillar 2: Advanced Pathways is split into two sections.

Section 1: Player development

To work with shareholders to maintain their high standards of providing adequate high-performance facilities and developing educational and technology-backed programs with access to further the careers of the most talented athletes.

Their plan includes:

  • To co-fund and enhance the FQ Academy QAS program with diversified Talent Identification (TID) and Long-Term Talent Development (LATD) goals and action plans. This includes upgrades to the Home of Football facility.
  • To enhance pathways with strengthened rural and statewide FQ academy clubs with more events, interstate competitions and Queensland A league teams. Especially with single age groups in academy leagues.

The targets include:

The FQ Academy QAS program remains the leading talent development academy with state-of-the-art facilities hosting extensive high-level interstate-wide competitions. With state-wide gold rate academies, an athlete management program, and clear career paths to professional leagues from NPL, A-League to the Matildas.

Pillar 2 Section 2: Coaching Development

Creating more opportunities including female-only courses for technical experts, analysts, academy directors, development, and high-performance coaches.

Developing female-only advanced courses such as a Coach Education Tutors workforce to train CETs for C and B Diplomas and the first Technical Director course with scholarships and clear pathways to permanent full-time coaching, analysts and support staff programs through diversifying roles in FQ and clubs and a digital platform for enhanced education accessibility.

Also, a recognition system to increase female technical staff numbers and increase storytelling awareness and representation of achievements in promotions.

The targets include:

9,400 female coaches with 25 Advanced Female Technical Directors with advanced scholarships and female coaches in full-time roles within the clubs, member federations, and 20% Queensland player and coach representation national team programs.

Pillar 3: Infrastructure

To break down the lack of facilities for the women’s game with Queensland Infrastructure Strategy by providing appropriate facilities for players to have the resources to play and represent the state at the very highest level.

This includes working closely with the Queensland Government to get infrastructure investment for the next 3 to help provide more unisex change rooms and female-friendly facilities. While upgrading fields, clubhouse and spectator seating across strategic spots over the state.

Key endeavours include a combined Home of Women’s Football and Women’s Centre of Excellence and securing a second Regional High-Performance Centre in Central Queensland.

The KPI is to attain the Queensland Government’s $60m infrastructure investment over the next three years and Queensland’s Home of Football as a high-performance facility.

This announcement of the Strategy plan presents a convincing and well-planned out mission by FQ to enhance the growing women’s and girls’ game in the state and be on track to delivering the Football Australia 50/50 equality strategy.

You can read the 2024-2026 Women & Girls Strategy in full here.

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Episode 4: “You could have sold it out twice”: Peter Filopoulos on why unification is the way forward

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PETER FILOPOULOS sees Saturday’s Australia Cup final between Melbourne Victory and South Melbourne Hellas as a ‘unification event’ that must be harnessed as a window to the future – rather than a means of stirring up old division – if Australian football is to progress.

“This game sold out organically, and having run marketing, corporate affairs and communications at Football Australia previously, I don’t think they would have needed to spend one single dollar on marketing,” Filopoulos told Soccerscene Unfiltered.

“You could have probably sold it out twice! This tells me it’s the sort of product the fans want; it’s authentic and taps into the new and the old, and demonstrates culture as a real asset. You couldn’t have scripted it better.

“If I was in a decision-making position at the A-League, I’d be looking very closely at why fans have responded in such an emphatic way.”

Filopoulos has seen it all across his near-35 year career in sports administration, which by his calculation has been split evenly inside the Australian football tent and outside it – but when outside, always with at least one eye glancing back.

Fifteen years across AFL clubs Hawthorn & North Melbourne as that code moved from a financially traumatic 1990s into a wealthier new millennium; five years at Football Australia: ‘easily the most transformative period for Australian football in its history’; stints with Etihad Stadium and even a period ‘completely out of my comfort zone’ at Swimming Australia.

There’s been crisis management, stepping in as Perth Glory CEO after the 2015 salary cap scandal; he’s seen the A-League’s boom times under the Lowys & Fox Sports’ 2018 broadcast deal; he’s enjoyed the euphoria of the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

But all stems back to the National Soccer League and South Melbourne Hellas, and his bold decision to take on the Club’s inaugural general manager position in December 1993, aged just 25.

“I wasn’t ready… but what it taught me is when an opportunity is presented to you, just say ‘yes’ and work out how to do it later. I’ve used this throughout my career, and that was one of those instances where I threw myself in the deep end.

“I had my career mapped out, and was working quite happily in accounting. But I was a passionate fan and having grown up at the old Middle Park, it was a natural ‘yes’ – and I was young enough to take a risk.”

With today’s A-League financially ailing and great clubs of yesteryear enjoying what Filopoulos terms a ‘renaissance’ – and agitating as vociferously for a return to the top flight as at any point since the demise of the NSL – he feels it is again time for bold leadership, and a little risk.

“You can have all the ambition in the world, and in being part of a club, you’re a custodian. But as I’ve always seen it, you need a sustainable commercial model: sound ownership, sound facilities, revenue, etc…

‘But you also need to understand how to tap into that asset of culture. What we’re seeing with the Australia Cup final is a result of culture, right? You need to create it amongst your fans, and know who your fans are, and tell them what you’re striving for. Bring them along on the journey!”

Catch the full chat with Peter Filoupolos on Soccerscene Unfiltered: from ‘eyeballing’ Frank Arok and backing Ange Postecoglou, overcoming resource challenges at Football Victoria, to the rise of the Matildas, and plenty more…

Manchester City must pay the ultimate price for financial cheating

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Manchester City’s financial scandal has reached boiling point. On the 29th of September, an independent commission found City guilty of all charges relating to serious breaches of the league’s financial rules across nine seasons, from 2009/10 to 2017/18. The commission also upheld three of four charges concerning the club’s failure to cooperate with the Premier League investigation.

The Premier League says City used sham commercial arrangements and disguised owner funding to inflate revenue and reduce costs by more than $1.7 billion (£900 million). Abu Dhabi United Group funded $1.58 billion (£830.69 million) that appeared in City’s accounts as sponsorship money from Abu Dhabi companies. The commission concluded that City’s accounts concealed the true financial position from auditors and regulators.

The 115 charges cover inaccurate financial information, player and manager payments, financial rules and the investigation itself. City has lodged its appeal against the guilty verdict, but for such a serious sporting scandal, attention has already turned to the potential punishments. In a Premier League era where foreign investment is king and revenues have skyrocketed, we should be asking questions. How did Manchester City get away with this for so long, and how can the punishment act as a deterrent to keep the reputation of football’s biggest league intact?

The hack that exposed the story

The most uncomfortable part of this saga is how the authorities discovered it and how most likely City never would have been exposed. In 2018, German publication Der Spiegel published leaked internal City emails and documents obtained through Football Leaks. Rui Pinto, the Portuguese hacker behind Football Leaks, supplied material that alleged City had disguised owner investment as sponsorship revenue and manipulated arrangements to satisfy financial regulations.

The Premier League investigation began in December 2018. City were formally charged in February 2023, after a four-year investigation, and the hearing finally began in September 2024. That timeline is nothing short of extraordinary; eight years between the leaks being exposed and charges being brought to Manchester City does significant sporting damage.

Man City won eight major titles during the alleged period, including three Premier League titles. Recalling titles in any sport leaves a sour taste in any sports fan’s mouth. The fans of opposing sides given titles feel robbed of the special moment, and Manchester City fans could feel rightfully deceived. But it goes beyond even this as we look at who Manchester City signed during those seasons. Players such as Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin De Bruyne played vital roles in City’s later titles beyond the 2017/2018 season. Would they have joined if this had been uncovered earlier? It’s impossible to say, but it shows how City’s early investment from 2009/10 still contributed to their titles in the 2020’s.

The Premier League’s credibility

That delay is not just embarrassing for City; it damages the Premier League. The league is the most competitive and commercially powerful domestic competition in football. Its rules are supposed to create a framework in which clubs compete on sporting merit while remaining financially sustainable. If a club can allegedly distort its accounts by hundreds of millions of dollars and the process takes years to reach a verdict, despite City’s potential obstruction, every other club has a reason to question whether the system works.

The irony is obvious: if Football Leaks hadn’t shared what they found on Manchester City through its hack, the scheme never would have been uncovered. If financial rules were designed to stop clubs gaining an unfair competitive advantage, then the Premier League may need to change how it investigates how its clubs’ finances are being managed. If anything should be gained from this, it may be that financial regulation needs to be improved as the Premier League and its clubs spend billions.

As for Manchester City, punishment cannot simply be a fine that becomes another operating cost.

Relegation is the only serious answer

If the verdict survives the appeal, Manchester City should be removed from the Premier League and those three aforementioned league titles removed. A fine would be inadequate and, depending on what points deduction City got, would punish the club in one season while leaving the historical record largely intact. Nottingham Forest received a four point deduction for a charge of Profitability and Sustainability rules in 2023-2024. City’s 114 charges will see much greater punishment then that.

Even if City are relegated they would almost be guranteed to be promoted the next season so even that feels like a slap on the wrist. Despite their investment during the nine seasons being questioned their five titles subsequent to that period will be expected to remain in their hands. My solution is to relegate City to the Championship without the potential of promotion for three seasons, one for each title won during that time.

City fans will call that harsh but their is strong reason to come down hard and that’s because this is bigger than Manchester City. Foreign ownership has brought huge investment into English football, but investment cannot mean exemption from the rules. Owners, executives and clubs must know that the Premier League’s financial regulations carry consequences that cannot be negotiated away.

The league has a choice. It can impose a manageable punishment and move on, or it can demonstrate that competitive integrity matters more than the commercial power of its biggest clubs. If City’s appeal fails, the answer should be clear: relegation, a reckoning over the titles and a message to every owner that the Premier League’s rules are not optional.

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