Football Australia CEO Ben Buckley Interview with Tom Smithies

Football Federation Australia CEO Ben Buckley talks to Tom Smithies about the "massive potential" of Australian football.

Q: What has surprised you?

A: The sheer amount of competitions we're in, from the men's senior team to under-17s women, beach football to futsal. The global scale of the sport, you recognise as an outsider but only once you're in it do you get an appreciation for how big it really is. I'm starting to get used to issues out of FIFA or the AFC that impact upon where we want to go.

For instance, the AFL is the controlling body worldwide - you make a decision at central office and you've made the decision, whereas decisions come out of Europe and Asia that affect how we want to operate.

World Cup qualification, a youth league, new national coach, converting participants into spectators, he's onto it all. It's only taken a century to find someone willing to do all of that, but we won't go there again.

Follow the Fox Sports link below for the whole interview.

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