Football Victoria (FV) has released its ‘Our Football’ Strategic Framework for the next four years, with CEO Chris Pehlivanis at the heart of its creation.
Having been with Western United as CEO for four years between 2019-2023 prior to joining FV, Pehlivanis is now heading towards his first full year in the member federation.
Knowing what it takes to lay the foundations and see it grow from an A-League club’s inception, it is now set to start again through a dedicated Strategic Framework.
In an interview with Soccerscene, Pehlivanis discusses his footballing journey so far, each of the strategic pillars and how he will work to support the needs and requirements of the game.
What led you into football and ultimately the CEO role at FV?
Chris Pehlivanis: I’ve been involved in football a long time, where I initially started playing for East Bentleigh Soccer Club when I was a young tucker, for about 10 years. I was also involved with Bentleigh United Cobras.
For 20 years I was also a referee, and then through my professional career I landed a job at Football Australia as finance manager. That was my first taste of sport where I went on to spend 8-9 years with the Essendon Football Club in a CFO role.
I love my football and the ability to help shape the game in this state is why I’m excited about being CEO.
I’ve also got a young boy who also plays and he’s 10 years old. He’s a goalkeeper and I still enjoy it from a parent’s point of view but also seeing the future of the sport first-hand in this state which is growing at substantial rates.
It’s very fun going back to grassroots; goalkeeper is the position my son has chosen, and he loves it. We’re going on a journey with him so it’s exciting.
What did you see in FV to make that jump?
Chris Pehlivanis: I thought it was a good opportunity to really help shape the game at a larger level, with clubs having nearly 100,000 registered participants in this state.
For the first time we also have a key asset, being The Home of the Matildas and commercialising it. Mainly, working with all the different levels of football in this state is the exciting part.
The Home of the Matildas is an asset which we haven’t had in the past, and everyone is just coming to terms with what that actually means and how we can use it for the benefit of the game.
It’s a good opportunity for government to see what they’ve contributed towards and the benefit at all different levels.
For example, we recently hosted the 2024 Girl’s National Youth Championships, showcasing our world-class facility and giving participants from across Australia a memorable experience.
What is the potential growth going to be like in Bundoora?
Chris Pehlivanis: We’re working with the Victorian State Government, Federal Government, and La Trobe University to look at what Stage 2 of this facility holds. It’s early days, but we’ve got some plans that we’re discussing with all the relevant parties.
The real opportunity is to work with everyone to develop something that delivers on a lot more for the football community, which can be increased capacity or additional pitches for the football family. It really makes it feel like a home for football.
On the Strategic Framework, one of the pillars is clubs and competitions, can you share more on the service proposition and delivery to regional football?
Chris Pehlivanis: It’s really helping our clubs become stronger and supporting them.
Each club is uniquely different, so there’s not one size fits all, but what is important is our ability to work with those clubs to really enhance the value proposition to their members and to their football community, and that’s what our role is, no matter what league they play in.
Equally as important is to increase the value proposition to the football family, because historically we haven’t really focused on retention. It will be important to understand why people are exiting the pyramid at whatever stage they do, and doing everything we can to keep them engaged with the game for longer periods.
Another pillar is the participation with a focus on gender equity. What do you hope to achieve?
Chris Pehlivanis: Off the back of the Women’s World Cup, we’ve seen enormous growth, and with that becomes a lot of opportunity.
What is critical is to make sure that we’re ready to do that in the right way.
It needs to be done in a manner that is really engaging, safe, and ensures our female participants have a great experience.
Our growth is more than 20% overall in the game, and for females it increases to 30% – with that will still come some growing pains, especially around facilities.
I think it’s a big competitive advantage we have in the female game. The foundations of our sport are solid for female participation, so our job is to take that and really use it to provide a genuine, engaging and high-performing pathway for females and be the sport of choice in this state and country.
Our job is to make sure we continue to drive additional value – be it through coaching, extra facilities, better competitions – where all that needs to come to the forefront. Because the game will continue to grow, and the future is very bright.
There is also an emphasis on pathways for emerging players, can you elaborate?
Chris Pehlivanis: We want to bring a real sense of pride back into representing Victoria and being part of the state programs.
I think that’s been lost in our journey in the last couple of years which will mean a really big focus on high performance on and off the field – through technical coaching, physios, nutrition and all areas that we’re going to focus on to provide a genuine pathway and we’re looking to produce as many future stars as we can.
Are there any initiatives you would bring in for that?
Chris Pehlivanis: It would be done through our NTC program and the expansion of it. The foundations in these programs are very solid, it’s about taking them to the next level – which in the NTC Review gave us a lot of recommendations.
There are key elements that we want to implement into our programs that will drive the user experience to a very much higher standard.
When you do play for your state, it’s all about showing pride and you’re representing every footballer in the state.
You mentioned that facilities are a sticking point, what’s been done so far?
Chris Pehlivanis: In the first six months of my role, I’ve did a lot of club visits, and I would say nine out of 10 clubs have put this as the number one priority to support facilities.
Every time I hear this, it means clubs are turning away participants and I think that’s unacceptable for a variety of reasons. Our role is to support the clubs in that journey and work with all levels of government to secure additional facilities.
What I say to clubs is quite simple; we’ll either succeed or fail together. But be assured we’re going to do this together and we’re going to provide you as much support as we can to secure more infrastructure for our game.
However, we’ve had success in this space so it’s also important to show people we care.
There’s room for a lot of improvement and plenty of opportunities to secure facilities to allow us to play a game that keeps growing at a strong rate.
What do you see in the game’s future and FV’s role to play?
Chris Pehlivanis: We are going to build unity within the game, where there has been a lack of it and hasn’t given us the best opportunity to be successful.
It ensures that we all work together for a common goal and not have an individual mindset which has been at the forefront of our game for many years.
In my short time here, I’ve brought in a GM of Commercial with a real focus on creating additional revenue streams for our game.
This is so we can reinvest in initiatives that will future-proof the game, but also continue to grow it.
The Home of the Matildas also needs to be commercialised. It gives us more relevance in that space and secure some decent funding for our game for the first time.
We’ve got people & culture and capability, making sure we’ve got the right employees here to deliver our strategy.
From a culture point of view, we want to make sure that everyone’s aligned and living the values.
One of the big things that I’ll enforce in this Strategic Framework will be accountability, because that’s the only way we can go forward and will be an area that I’ll continue to drive.
To view the Strategic Framework in full, you can do so here.
