FFA announces Jane Fernandez as head of 2023 Women’s World Cup office

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FFA have confirmed Jane Fernandez will continue with the organisation and serve as its head of the 2023 Women’s World Cup office.

Fernandez will begin immediately in the role following her success as general manager of the governing body’s bid to host the 2023 tournament.

Australia and New Zealand were announced as hosts of the competition earlier this year.

FFA CEO James Johnson said: “As general manager of the FIFA Women’s World Cup bid Jane did an exceptional job in managing a technically superb bid that helped to secure co-hosting rights to the tournament and we are delighted she has agreed to continue with FFA and join our senior management team. 

“Jane is a highly-skilled and experienced major sporting events professional and we look forward to seeing her play a vital role in bringing our vision for the FIFA Women’s World Cup to life, just as she did previously in her role as tournament director of the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015.

“FFA has set a bold vision for football in Australia.  In our recently published XI Principles for the Future of Australian Football we outline our commitment to gender equality in football and the need to create more opportunities for women in senior administrative roles in our game. 

“Jane’s appointment, following our successful announcement as co-hosts of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, is an early step of many we will be taking in pursuit of our objective. We are pleased to begin realising this as an important legacy of hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023.

“Jane is an excellent ambassador for our game and we hope that her example will inspire women and girls across football in Australia and beyond,” Johnson concluded.

The 2023 Women’s World Cup is set to begin on July 10, with the final on August 20.

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Victory unites with Roasting Warehouse in culture-led partnership

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Image credit: Melbourne Victory

The Melbourne-based anf family-owned business will join the Victory family, uniting two institutions which represent the city’s culture and identity.

A partnership with local roots

As the newest partner of Melbourne Victory, Roasting Warehouse joins forces with a vital part of the city’s sporting landscape.

The club’s Managing Director, Caroline Carnegie, outlined why the partnership bears so much value to both parties.

“We are excited to collaborate with Roasting Warehouse, a community-oriented destination for high-quality coffee, proud of its foundations in Melbourne,” said Carnegie via official media release.

“Football and coffee sit at the epicentre of Melbourne’s culture. The two go hand-in-hand, consistently at the centre of the conversation that stirs Melburnians, which is no different to the conversation sport and Melbourne Victory stir in the State.”

Indeed, this is a partnership which combines the identity, passions and culture of an entire city, therefore giving it the foundations required for long-term, mutual success.

Representing the best of Melbourne

Both Victory and Roasting Warehouse are hugely successful in their respective industries. They are institutions with community-oriented philosphies, who pride themselves on craft and quality.

“We’re incredibly proud to partner with Melbourne Victory, a club that represents the heart, passion, and ambition of Melbourne,” revealed Roasting Warehouse Head of Brand, Alexander Paraskevopoulos.

“As a Melbourne-founded, family-run business, supporting a team that means so much to the local community feels very natural for us.”

Furthermore, through their high-quality blends, Roasting Warehouse will look to prepare Victory’s players and staff for high performances on the pitch as the seasons nears completion.

But this is about far more than just fueling athletes.

This is a partnership which embodies and unites two of Melbourne’s greatest strengths and cultural markers – a connection forged from the city’s very own DNA.

 

For more information about Roasting Warehouse, click here.

Football NSW supports Female Coaches CPD as Women’s Football Surges

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Image Credit: Shutterstock

Football NSW has used the platform of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup to deliver a targeted professional development workshop for female coaches, bringing together scholarship recipients for an evening of structured learning and direct engagement with elite women’s football.

Held at ACPE last month, the session was open to female coaches who received C or B Diploma scholarships through Football NSW in 2025. Coaching accreditation carries a financial cost that disproportionately affects women, who are less likely to have their development subsidised by clubs or associations operating in underfunded community football environments. Scholarship access changes that equation at the point where many women exit the pathway.

Facilitated by Football NSW Coach Development Coordinator Bronwyn Kiceec, the workshop focused on goal scoring trends from the tournament’s group stage, with coaches analysing attacking patterns and exploring how those insights could translate into their own environments. The group then attended the quarter-final between South Korea and Uzbekistan at Stadium Australia.

The structure of the evening mattered as much as its content. Female coaches in community football rarely have access to elite competition environments as a professional resource. The gap between the level at which most women coach and the level at which the game is analysed and discussed tends to reinforce itself. Placing scholarship recipients inside a major tournament, as participants rather than spectators, closes that gap in a way that a classroom session cannot.

Female coaches remain significantly underrepresented across all levels of the game in Australia. The pipeline that will change that depends not only on accreditation access but on the professional networks, peer relationships and exposure to elite environments that male coaches have historically taken for granted.

The workshop forms part of Football NSW’s ongoing commitment to developing female coaches through scholarships and structured learning opportunities.

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