Tony Pignata is an Australian football administrator and current chief executive of

Football Tasmania Football Tasmania (FT) is the governing body for soccer in the Australian state of Tasmania. The federation oversees competitions across Tasmania, Tasmanian representative teams, and development of the sport in the state. The federation was kn ...

. His previous positions include chief executive of Football Federation Victoria,

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...

and inaugural chief executive of Wellington Phoenix FC in the A-League from 2007 to 2010.

Career

Football Federation Victoria

Pignata was the CEO at Football Federation Victoria from October 2004 - January 2007 where he held overall responsibility for football operations, including the administration of football competitions, player registrations and referee development/administration.

Wellington Phoenix

Pignata was responsible for bringing out

LA Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pl ...

with

David Beckham David Robert Joseph Beckham (; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the current president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending fr ...

, resulting in a then-record football attendance of 31,853. In 2009/10, he was CEO when Wellington Phoenix made 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 ...

Finals Series (playoffs), going within one game of making the 2009/10 Grand Final.

Sydney FC

In his time at Sydney FC, Pignata helped bring Italian football star Alessandro Del Piero to the club for two seasons, which helped increase membership, merchandise sales, sponsorship and TV viewership for Sydney FC and the A-League overall. In 2014, the club announced that its finances had turned around from a deficit of $7.2m to almost break-even under Pignata's leadership. In the 2016/17 A-League season, Sydney FC were crowned Premiers after 20 wins, 6 draws and 1 loss culminating in 66 points for the regular season. They went on to win the A-League Grand Final in the equivalent of the play-off series against Melbourne Victory on 7 May 2017. In 2017, Pignata was named by the ''

Australian Financial Review ''The Australian Financial Review'' (abbreviated to the ''AFR'') is an Australian business-focused, compact daily newspaper covering the current business and economic affairs of Australia and the world. The newspaper is based in Sydney, New Sou ...

'' as one of Australia's top 21 CEOs. He announced his resignation from Sydney FC three days after the 2017 A-League grand final win.

Perth Glory

In May 2018, he was appointed chief executive of Perth Glory FC. In the 2018-19 A-League season, Perth Glory were crowned Premiers with two games left of the season, finishing with 60 points, having 18 wins, 6 draws and 3 losses on the board. They also reached the

A-League Grand Final The A-League Men is the premier professional men's association football league in Australia. It is currently consists of twelve teams; ten based in Australia and one based in New Zealand. The league has been contested since 2005, when it was foun ...

, which was hosted in Perth for the first time in the A-League, with a record-breaking attendance of 56,371. The Grand Final score after extra-time was 0-0, and ended in a 1-4 penalty shoot-out loss against Sydney FC.

Football Tasmania

On 24 August 2023 he was appointed as the CEO of

. In addition to the management of the organisation, he has also made the idea of a Tasmanian football specific stadium a priority, along with expansion of the Tasmanian NPL to 10 clubs and adding promotion/relegation to the league.https://footballfedtas.com.au/announcing-our-new-ceo-tony-pignata/

Education

Pignata's secondary education was at

Salesian College A Salesian school is an educational institution run by the Roman Catholic Salesian Congregation of Saint John Bosco (or Don Bosco), and one that uses his methods. Salesian schools are dedicated to young people in an educational and formative envir ...

in Chadstone. He graduated from Monash University (Caulfield) in 1987 with a Bachelor's degree in business (finance). He also holds the Global Master in sports management and legal skills from the University of Madrid (ISDE – F.C. Barcelona).

Club honours

: *** Premiers: 2016–17 *** Champions: 2016–17 *

: *** Premiers: 2018–19

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pignata, Tony Australian chief executives Living people Australian soccer chairmen and investors Year of birth missing (living people) People educated at Salesian College (Chadstone) Monash University alumni Perth Glory FC Sydney FC executives Wellington Phoenix FC