The findings of an anonymous survey in which staff complained of working in a “toxic, chaotic and negative” environment will spark internal change at Football Australia, the governing body says.
Football Australia is fighting fires on several fronts with chief executive Martin Kugeler indicating last week that the organisation would slash 20% of its workforce to rebalance its books.
The cost-cutting measures come as Football Australia prepares to announce a $15.3 million year loss at its annual general meeting, following on from an $8.5 million loss the previous financial year.
Three of the six directors nominated for Thursday’s board elections, including ex-Socceroos goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, have withdrawn from the running.
The three remaining candidates are all nominated by Australian Professional Leagues (APL) clubs.
But the governing body’s culture has also been the subject of intense internal scrutiny, with AAP privy to the feedback of a review carried out by consultancy firm Wingmaven in October last year.
Kugeler did not take charge at Football Australia until January this year and at the time of the internal probe Heather Garriock, who is currently the organisation’s deputy chief executive, was acting interim chief executive.
As part of the survey staff were asked to select “three words to describe the culture at Football Australia.”
According to Wingmaven, feedback — which was delivered to staff in November and has been seen by AAP — more than 70% of the 39 respondents had “overwhelmingly negative” word associations with working at Football Australia.
Staff were shown a word cloud which summed up their responses and among the terms used by staff to describe working at Football Australia, were adjectives such as “hierarchical, bureaucratic and egotistical.” It also highlighted a “toxic, chaotic, gruelling and unprofessional” culture.
Further feedback seen by AAP shows staff indicated that there was a “perceived favouritism” within the organisation and that Football Australia was a workplace with “low psychological safety and trust.”
Additional concerns relayed by staff indicated that there were “meetings about meetings,” that decisions were “made on opinion not evidence” and there was an “avoidance culture.”
Workers also raised the issue of a divide between staff in Sydney and Melbourne.
Football Australia said in a statement it had taken staff concerns on board and were working to build “positive workplace behaviours” under Kugeler.
“In 2025 Football Australia engaged Wingmaven to examine the culture and performance standards across the commercial, marketing, communications, digital, and events functions,” a Football Australia spokesperson said. “The findings and recommendations have informed organisational changes which have commenced and will continue as part of our organisational restructure.
“Improving culture standards was a key criteria in our search for a new CEO.
“The appointment of Martin Kugeler, who has a proven track record in building high-performance, values-driven cultures, reflects our commitment to strengthening and sustaining positive workplace behaviours.”
