NZFF News
NZFF News

New Zealand Football Foundation Appoints Melanie Longdill as New CEO

May 5, 2022

The New Zealand Football Foundation (NZFF) has announced that Melanie Longdill has been appointed as the new CEO of the Foundation. An experienced sporting leader, Melanie assumed the role in April 2022. 

Melanie is a trained Sports Scientist. Having qualified in New Zealand, she led Diploma and Degree programmes at WINTEC and was head of strength and conditioning with the Waikato Under 21 netball squad before departing to work overseas.   Melanie has recently returned to New Zealand from Qatar, where she was the Aspire Academy’s first female sport science and athlete development lead.  

Foundation Chair, Jodi Tong said “Melanie is an innovative, knowledgeable and passionate sports leader who has demonstrably enhanced the lives of others through the power of sport.”  

Leading up to the Women’s World Cup in 2023, the Foundation is excited to appoint someone with the experience in innovating programmes for women and girls. While in Qatar, Melanie led the Qatar Athlete Development Pathway Project, which included specific pathways for women athletes. “Melanies ability to build relationships and credibility across cultural boundaries will be invaluable for our work in Aotearoa Footballing communities,” said Tong. 

Melanie says, “I am thrilled to be joining the passionate NZFF family, and I am excited to further build on our positive impact on football communities throughout New Zealand.” 

The NZFF is a charitable foundation established to manage a capital fund that New Zealand Football received as a result of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup.  The Foundation’s purpose is to protect and grow it’s capital base and distribute net earnings for the benefit of football in New Zealand via grants.  Since inception, NZFF has distributed more than $1.8m in grants into the football community. 

For more information contact: 
Helena Wiseman 
Communications Officer, New Zealand Football Foundation 
+64 27 480 8366 
helena@footballfoundation.org.nz

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