WSL’s new governing body to appoint Chelsea’s Zarah Al-Kudcy in senior role | OneFootball

The company that will run the ­Women’s Super League from next season is poised to make one of its first senior appointments by hiring Chelsea Women’s commercial director, Zarah Al-Kudcy.

NewCo is the temporary name for the company which will take over the WSL and Women’s Championship from the Football Association, and according to multiple sources Al‑Kudcy will join its chief executive, Nikki Doucet, as part of the leadership team this summer.

The Canadian former Nike director Doucet was named last year as NewCo’s chief executive and in March it was announced that Dawn Airey, the chair of the WSL and Championship, would continue as the league’s chair at NewCo after the split. Beyond those two roles, however, little has been known about the makeup of the new entity and its staff.

Last winter, NewCo advertised for a chief football officer and head of communications, as well as a chief revenue officer, which is the role it is understood Al-Kudcy has been ­chosen for after an extensive ­recruitment process. Further high‑profile appointments are expected this summer.

Al-Kudcy has significant com­mercial experience in a broad range of sports, having worked ­previously as the head of ­commercial ­part­nerships at Formula One, after a spell as head of marketing for the 2015 men’s Rugby World Cup, and has worked in ­marketing roles at Sky Sports and ­Athletics ­Australia. She also had a stint as head of mar­keting for ­cricket’s Women’s World Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy and, as a trustee at the ­Women’s Sport Trust, is said to have a strong reputation within the industry.

In Al-Kudcy’s one season at ­Chelsea she helped to oversee a four‑fold increase in sponsorship deals exclusively for the women’s team, working alongside the commercial director, Carly Telford, a former England goalkeeper.

The WSL champions played a club-high nine matches at Stamford Bridge across all competitions, and it is understood none of those fixtures ran at a loss, in a campaign which will be regarded as a step change for ­Chelsea’s off-pitch operation.

Increasing commercial revenues is going to be one of the most crucial tasks facing NewCo, as it sets about trying to make the WSL and Cham­pionship financially sustainable, away from the auspices of the FA.

Doucet said in January that NewCo would be “revenue-generating” and “for-profit”, with the 24 clubs from the top two divisions in England being the main shareholders.

In April the WSL’s shared domestic television deal with the BBC and Sky Sports was rolled over for a further year until the summer of 2025, to allow NewCo more time to secure a more lucrative, longer-term rights arrangement.

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