WSL’s new governing body to appoint Chelsea’s Zarah Al-Kudcy in senior role | Women’s Super League
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The company that will run the Women’s Super League from next season is set to make one of its first senior appointments with the recruitment of Chelsea Women’s commercial director, Zara Al-Qudsi.
NewCo is the interim name of the company that will take over the WSL and FA Women’s Championship, and according to multiple sources Al-Kudcy will join CEO Nicky Doucetas part of the leadership team this summer.
Canadian former Nike executive Doucet was named NewCo chief executive last year, and in March it was announced that Dawn Airey, the WSL and Championship chairman, would continue as league chairman at NewCo following the split. Beyond these two roles, however, little is known about the composition of the new company and its personnel.
Last winter, NewCo advertised as chief football officer and head of communications, as well as chief revenue officer, a role for which Al-Qudsi is understood to have been chosen after an extensive recruitment process. More senior appointments are expected this summer.
Al-Qudsi has significant commercial experience across a wide range of sports, having previously worked as Head of Commercial Partnerships at Formula 1, after being Head of Marketing for 2015 Men’s Rugby World Cup, and has worked in marketing roles at Sky Sports and Athletics Australia. She has also worked as head of marketing for the Women’s Cricket World Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy and, as a trustee of the Women’s Sport Trust, is said to have a strong reputation in the industry.
In Al-Qudsi’s one season at Chelsea, she helped oversee a four-fold increase in sponsorship deals exclusively for the women’s team, working alongside commercial director Carly Telford, a former England goalkeeper.
The WSL champions have played nine club games at Stamford Bridge in all competitions, and it is understood that none of those games have come in losses, in a campaign that will be seen as a step change for Chelsea’s off-field performance.
Increasing commercial revenue will be one of NewCo’s most important tasks as it tries to make the WSL and Championship financially sustainable away from the auspices of the FA.
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Doucet said in January that NewCo would be “revenue-generating” and “profit-making”, with the 24 clubs from England’s top two divisions as the main shareholders.
In April, the WSL’s shared domestic television deal with the BBC and Sky Sports was extended for another year until the summer of 2025 to give NewCo more time to secure a more lucrative, longer-term rights deal.
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