The English Football Association (FA) has commenced a recruitment drive for its new Head of Commercial Partnerships, as incumbent Dan Kiddle prepares to step down from the position.
Responsibilities for the position include driving revenue for the governing body from sponsorship agreements, licencing and retail sales, along with hire of Wembley Stadium as well as tours of England’s national football ground
Prior to joining the FA, Kiddle served as Head of Marketing and Partnerships at Premiership Rugby, and had also worked as Head of Sponsorship at Barclays Bank -the current title sponsor of the Premier League.
Kiddle first joined the FA seven years ago, and will be moving on to Pitch International, a sports marketing agency specialising in representation of media and partnerships for sporting organisations.
Writing on Linkedin, Kiddle described his position at the FA as “a great opportunity to lead a fantastic team who are passionate, dedicated and have been like a family over the last seven and a half years.”
Kiddle’s seven and a half year tenure at the FA saw the organisation sign a number of prominent sponsorship agreements, most notably with naming broadcaster and partial Premier League media rights holder BT the lead partner of the English national team’s in 2019, as well as clinching a major agreement with Nike.
More recent agreements include an official health partnership with Dettol at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a three-year partnership with the Nationwide Building Society focused around the development of the governing body’s Respect programme.
An additional prominent deal saw Weetabix become the official breakfast category partner, England Women’s and Men’s Senior Team, whilst also securing the naming rights to the FA and FAQ girls participation programmes.