Why do football boards look like Panini stickers from the 90s?
Walk into any major European football club's boardroom and you'll witness a remarkable phenomenon: time travel. Not forward, but backward, to an era when mobile phones had antennas and the internet made that distinctive dial-up sound. The faces around the table haven't changed much since then either. Same demographic, same backgrounds, same blind spots.
Many football clubs still aren't running modern businesses. They're operating museums, carefully curating an exhibit nobody asked for: "Leadership, Frozen Since 1996"
The irony is palpable. These institutions that pride themselves on innovation (sports science, data analytics, transfer strategies worth billions) somehow lose all capacity for forward-thinking the moment they reach the boardroom door. There, progress doesn't just slow; it stops entirely.
The numbers don't lie (they embarrass)
Let's talk numbers that highlight this institutional failure:
Women occupy less than 10% of leadership positions across European football's top divisions. Among the 100 biggest clubs, you'll find exactly four female CEOs (at the time of writing this). Four. You could fit them all in a taxi. The number of female sporting directors? Zero. Not "almost zero" or "approaching zero", actually zero.
But every March 8th, like clockwork, these same clubs flood social media with International Women's Day content. The hypocrisy is so thick you could spread it on toast.
The women who prove them wrong
Marina Granovskaia: The ruthless negotiator
For nearly a decade, Marina Granovskaia was the most feared negotiator in football. As Chelsea's chief executive, she orchestrated over £2 billion in transfers, turning the club into a commercial powerhouse. Other executives spoke of her in hushed tones; she was brilliant, ruthless and absolutely untouchable at the negotiating table.
Emma Hayes: Too good for England
Emma Hayes didn't just win at Chelsea; she dominated. Fourteen major trophies. Revolutionary tactics. A playing philosophy that influenced the entire women's game. She became the highest-paid women's football coach in the world, but had to leave England to get that recognition.
The USWNT offered her what the English game wouldn't: proper valuation. While the Premier League continues recycling managers who've failed at multiple clubs, the woman who built a dynasty had to cross an ocean to find respect. The message is clear: Be brilliant, win everything, then leave so we can return to normal.
Leila Pereira: La presidenta
As president of Palmeiras, she's overseen two Copa Libertadores titles and transformed the club's finances. She's proof that when women do break through to the top, they deliver. But she shouldn't be an exception worth celebrating; this should be normal.
The pipeline excuse: A masterclass in gaslighting
"There simply aren't enough qualified women in football."
Delivered with theatrical regret at diversity panels, is gaslighting at its finest. Let's dissect why:
The Hypocrisy: Clubs regularly hire former male players with zero business experience for executive roles. Gary Neville didn't need a communications degree to become a pundit and later a club owner. But suddenly, when women apply, credentials matter.
The Numbers: Women comprise 60% of university graduates, 40% of MBA recipients and run companies worth trillions globally. Mary Barra runs General Motors (revenue: $171 billion). Christine Lagarde heads the European Central Bank. Ursula von der Leyen leads the European Commission. But running a football club? Apparently, that requires being a male.
The Real Pipeline: Football's pathway to power runs through playing careers and old boys' networks. When women were literally banned from professional football (the English FA's ban lasted until 1971), they were locked out of this pipeline. Now clubs use this historical exclusion to justify current discrimination. It's like breaking someone's legs then mocking them for not running fast enough.
Following the money they're leaving on the table
The business case that should terrify any competent owner (assuming they care more about profits than preserving their boys' club):
Companies with diverse leadership are 25% more profitable (McKinsey, 2023)
Women influence 80% of household purchasing decisions globally
Women's sports sponsorship grew 20% year-on-year while men's stayed flat
The 2023 Women's World Cup generated $570 million in revenue
Yet clubs wonder why they can't expand beyond their traditional male fanbase. They hire consultants, launch pink merchandise, everything except the obvious solution: Put women in positions where they make actual decisions.
Major sponsors are already moving without them. Visa, Google, and Orange have poured millions specifically into women's football, often bypassing traditional club structures entirely. They see what club executives don't: The future audience demands representation, not condescension.
The "football knowledge" mythology
The mystical "football knowledge", that indefinable quality supposedly required for executive positions, deserves special scrutiny. This sacred knowledge, apparently transmitted exclusively through Y chromosomes, has given us:
The European Super League fiasco (architected entirely by men)
FIFA's decades of corruption (under male leadership)
Financial fair play violations across Europe's top leagues
The handball rule being changed 47 times because nobody can figure it out (to this day)
Meanwhile, the women excluded for lacking this "knowledge" have built successful businesses, negotiated international treaties and managed complex global organisations. But understanding the offside rule? That's where they draw the line (literally).
What would actually change?
Imagine different voices in these rooms when decisions are made:
Investment in Women's Football: Instead of men deciding what women's teams "deserve," women might point out things that us as men wouldn’t ever think about. Barcelona Femení proves that proper investment in facilities, marketing and youth development led to Champions League titles and sell-out crowds.
Commercial Strategy: Clubs might finally understand why their "shrink it and pink it" merchandise strategy fails. They might realize that women don't want smaller versions of men's jerseys; they want products designed for them.
Workplace Culture: The normalised misogyny that treats women as decoration rather than decision-makers might finally face real consequences. The casual sexism that drives talented women away from football careers might actually be addressed.
Building new tables, a new era
I'm 21. I am not politely waiting for institutional change. We've watched these clubs post rainbow laces and Black Lives Matter statements while maintaining all-white, all-male boards. We've seen the performance of progressivism without any actual progress.
I’m not interested in being grateful for scraps. We're certainly not waiting another 20 years for incremental change that might get us to 15% representation by 2045.
Instead, we are/should be building alternatives. Angel City FC in the US wasn't founded by traditional football figures, it was founded by women who were tired of waiting. They built a club valued at $180 million in three years. While European clubs debate whether women can handle executive pressure, Angel City's female-led ownership group includes venture capitalists, Oscar winners, and Olympic champions.
The extinction of football's dinosaurs
Here's what the football executives don't understand: Evolution isn't optional. The asteroid is already incoming.
The women's game is exploding despite the resistance, not because of leadership support. Attendance records are being shattered. Broadcasting deals are multiplying. Young girls are flooding academies.
The question isn't whether change will come. It's whether current leadership will drive it or be replaced by it.
The uncomfortable truth
Football's leadership doesn't have a pipeline problem, a qualification problem or a knowledge problem. It has a power problem. Those in power, overwhelming white, male and middle-aged, protect their positions by protecting the system that elevated them.
They know that Marina Granovskaia negotiates better deals. They know Emma Hayes develops better tactics. They know Leila Pereira runs clubs more efficiently. They know diverse boards make better decisions.
They just don't care. Or shall I say, the choose to not care.
Because preserving power matters more than improving performance. Maintaining comfort matters more than maximizing potential. Protecting the museum matters more than building the future.
Women are building new clubs, launching investment funds, creating media companies and establishing parallel power structures. They're not breaking down doors anymore; they're building new buildings.
The future of football will include women in boardrooms, either in the existing institutions that finally evolve or in the new ones that replace them. Decision-makers can either open their doors to change or watch as irrelevance locks them from the outside.
I'm 21 and I'm not asking for a seat at their table anymore.
I'm here to build new ones. With chairs for everyone.
The game is changing. The question is: Will football's leadership change with it or will they become another dusty exhibit in their own museums.
The clock is ticking. Evolve or become extinct.
