James Johnson (born 21 May 1982) is an Australian

sports administrator Sport management is the field of business dealing with sports and recreation. Sports management involves any combination of skills that correspond with planning, organizing, directing, controlling, budgeting, leading, or evaluating of any organiz ...

and business person who has served as CEO of

Football Australia 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 establ ...

since January 2020. He is also a non-executive advisory board member of the Association Football Development Program Global chaired by

Prince Ali bin Hussein Prince Ali bin Hussein ( ar, الأمير علي بن الحسين; born 23 December 1975) is the third son of King Hussein of Jordan, and the second child of the king by his third wife, Queen Alia. He is also the half brother of King Abdullah I ...

of Jordan. Johnson has spent the bulk of his career in the global sports industry and is a highly regarded global sports executive. Johnson has been a featured speaker at sports forums and conferences in areas, including, the international transfer system,

financial fair play The UEFA Financial Fair Play Regulations (FFP) are a set of regulations established to prevent professional football clubs spending more than they earn in the pursuit of success, and in doing so not getting into financial problems which might th ...

, multi-club ownership,

salary cap In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Sever ...

s, as well as the

globalisation Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...

commercialisation Commercialization or commercialisation is the process of introducing a new product or production method into commerce—making it available on the market. The term often connotes especially entry into the mass market (as opposed to entry into ear ...

, and business of sports. Johnson spent the early period of his career as a lawyer practicing in the areas corporate law,

litigation - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

, and industrial relations. Under his leadership, Australian football has experienced a commercial resurgence having secured broadcast deals with Network 10, ViacomCBS and Fox Sports, as well as sponsorship deals with Commonwealth Bank Australia, Cadbury and Rebel Sport. During Johnson’s tenure, the Australian game has gone through a major governance transformation with the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

(top-tier Australian professional football league) being separated from Football Australia. Johnson is well known for his role in securing Australia and New Zealand’s hosting rights for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Early life and education

Johnson was born in England to Australian parents who were working in the country. His parents returned to Australia when Johnson was six months old and he grew up in

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...

. At the age of 13, his family moved to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. He has a degree in business administration, minoring in finance, as well as a Juris Doctor in law. Johnson pursued his undergraduate degree at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

in Business and Finance. He then studied law at

Bond University Bond University is Australia's first private not-for-profit university and is located in Robina, a suburb in the City of Gold Coast, Queensland. Since its founding on 15 May 1989, Bond University has primarily been a teaching-focused higher ed ...

and graduated with Honours as

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice law ...

Playing career

Johnson was a youth international soccer player for the

Australia national under-17 soccer team Australia national under-17 soccer team may refer to: * Australia men's national under-17 soccer team * Australia women's national under-17 soccer team See also * Australia national under-23 soccer team * Australia national under-20 soccer team ...

. He was selected in the Australia squad for the

1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship The 1999 FIFA U-16 World Championship, the eighth edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Auckland, Christchurch, Napier, and Dunedin in New Zealand between 10 and 27 November 1999. Players born after 1 January 1982 could participate ...

but was cut ahead of the tournament due to injury. Between 2002 and 2005, Johnson played for

Boston University Terriers The Boston University Terriers are the ten men's and fourteen women's varsity athletic teams representing Boston University in NCAA Division I competition. Boston University's team nickname is the Terriers, and the official mascot is Rhett the ...

, scoring 13 times in 57 matches. He continued playing at club level until 2007 for

Brisbane Strikers Brisbane Strikers Football Club is an Australian semi-professional football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in 1991 as Brisbane United, the club competed in the National Soccer League until the 2003–04 season and was one of two ...

and Danang FC.

Working life

After his retirement, Johnson began his legal career practicing in the areas of corporate law,

, and industrial relations. Johnson then joined

Professional Footballers Australia The Professional Footballers Australia (PFA), formerly the Australian Soccer Players' Association, is an Australian trade union affiliated with the Australian Council of Trade Unions that represents professional male, female and elite junior so ...

(PFA). Johnson worked for two years at this organization as a player relations executive. In 2011, Johnson was appointed as the director of international relations and development at The

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

. In 2013, Johnson moved to Zurich and joined FIFA as a senior manager of member associations. After serving for two years on this post, Johnson was appointed as the head of professional football in 2015. He worked until 2018 at this position. After his exit from FIFA, Johnson joined the

City Football Group City Football Group Limited (CFG) is a holding company that administers association football clubs. The group is owned by three organisations; of which 81% is majority owned by Newton Investment and Development LLC, 18% by the American firm Sil ...

in the UK as a senior vice president of external affairs. In 2020, Johnson became the CEO of the

Football Federation Australia 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 esta ...

Organisations

*FIFA *City Football Group / Manchester City Football Club

CEO, Football Australia (2020 - present)

* Secured hosting rights for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 * Negotiated record broadcast agreements with Foxtel, ViacomCBS, Paramount and Channel 10 * Negotiated record sponsorship agreements with Commonwealth Bank Australia, Rebel Sport, Priceline and Cadbury * Negotiated the restructure and creation of the

Australian Professional Leagues The Australian Professional Leagues, commonly abbreviated to the APL, and sometimes referred to as the A-Leagues, are the governing body for the A-League Men, A-League Women, A-League Youth and E-League. Since their formation, they have been most ...

(separate professional league from Football Australia) * Doubled revenues of Football Australia in first 2 years * Oversaw implementation of high-performance review of national team programs * Established and articulated 15-year Vision for Australian football and since led transformation of the sport (XI Principles For The Future of Australian Football , Football Australia)

Vision

Johnson has been labelled as the “visionary guiding soccer’s revolution”. Under his leadership, Football Australia has developed and articulated a vision for the sport called the ‘XI Principles for the future of Australian football’. This Vision was created following a rigorous and collaborative consultation with the national football family.

Sponsorship

Growing sponsorship revenues has been a hallmark of Johnson's stewardship of Australian football. Johnson secured landmark multi-million-dollar sponsorship deals with Commonwealth Bank Australia for the naming rights for the Matildas and Priceline. In addition, major brands such as Rebel Sports,

Cadbury Cadbury, formerly Cadbury's and Cadbury Schweppes, is a British multinational confectionery company fully owned by Mondelez International (originally Kraft Foods) since 2010. It is the second largest confectionery brand in the world after Mar ...

and Pantene have signed sponsorship renewals.

Broadcast

Johnson leads the strategy and negotiations for Football Australia’s broadcast rights. In 2020, Johnson secured a 1-year deal for the A-League with

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

in what was described as a “game of chicken” allowing the league to resume a season postponed due to the pandemic. Johnson has focused on growing the brands of Australia’s Socceroos and Matildas in Australia and abroad, which led to a landmark broadcast deal with Network 10 and ViacomCBS reportedly worth 100M AUD.

FIFA 2023 Women’s World Cup

On 25 June 2020, Australia together with New Zealand won the bid to host the 2023 Women's World Cup. In what has been described as the “whatsapp world cup bid”, Johnson’s network’s and political manoeuvring played a vital role in the successful bid and aligning the voting regions of Africa, Asia, Oceania, North and Central America and the Caribbean. The Australia and New Zealand bid won with 22 votes, while Colombia earned 13. Johnson later publicly criticised the English FA for voting against Australia and New Zealand labelling it “disrespectful”.

Club Football

Johnson advocated for a governance overhaul of Australia’s A-League from his first day in the office wanting to give the club’s more autonomy to own and operate the league under the ambit of Football Australia. On 31 December 2020, Johnson announced together with A-League Club Chairman

Paul Lederer Paul Lederer is the former CEO of Primo Group, and Chairman and co-owner of A-League club Western Sydney Wanderers. Business Lederer started his professional career by joining his uncle's manufacturing business in his early twenties. In 1985, A ...

that Football Australia and the A-League clubs had agreed upon a new model following years of negotiations. The model provided the operational, commercial and marketing control of the A-League and regulatory control to Football Australia. Johnson has also focused on growing the brand and relevance of the FFA Cup (Australia’s open club knock-out competition) and has brought in strategic changes, including playing on free to air television and reallocating a slot to the Asian Champions League to the

FFA Cup The Australia Cup, formerly known as the FFA Cup until the 2021 season, is the national football knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Football Australia, formerly known as Football Federation Australia ...

winner. As a next step in the evolution of Australian club football, Johnson has advocated publicly for a second-division club football competition and has set 2023 as the date for it to begin.

Personal life

Johnson is married with three children and resides in

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, James 1982 births English emigrants to Australia People from Crewe Boston University alumni Bond University alumni People from Rockhampton People from Brisbane Australian soccer players 21st-century Australian lawyers Australian sports executives and administrators Living people Brisbane Strikers FC players Association footballers not categorized by position Football Federation Australia officials