Football Confidential: Michael Brown collected a $1m-plus bonus from FFA after Asian Cup success
FOOTBALL CONFIDENTIAL: Former Asian Cup chief Michael Brown received a massive bonus from the FFA after the unexpected success of last year’s tournament.
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HIS departure from the rugby league World Cup was acrimonious, but there are many more reasons for former Asian Cup chief executive Michael Brown to look back on football rather more fondly.
Brown led a tournament that was way more successful than many predicted, to the degree that it is understood his subsequent bonus took his payment in the last financial year to more than $1m.
The figure isn’t specified in the FFA’s accounts, which include a lump sum for its executives of more than $5m. But we understand that amount includes Brown’s earnings too, as well as other Asian Cup senior figures and of course FFA boss David Gallop and his management team.
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Clearly no one on the Asian Cup organising committee anticipated paying out such a bonus to the CEO, especially after the base salary had to be bumped up several times north of half a million dollars in the wake of several ex-FFA executives turning it down before Brown was approached.
But the tournament rocked in a way few foresaw, recording average crowds of 20,000, making a profit of $22 million and, of course, topped off by Australia winning it in the end on a memorable night at ANZ Stadium.
Brown’s subsequent tenure at the amusingly titled rugby league “World Cup” was rather less successful, resigning after leaving a ferocious voicemail for Penrith Panthers’ short-term chief executive Corey Payne.
Also revealed in the FFA’s accounts is the consultancy agreement which has earned director Moya Dodd more than $400,000 over the past three years. Dodd has become one of the most ubiquitous figures in world football circles, a member of FIFA’s executive committee as well as a senior figure in Asian Football Confederation circles.
Although the FFA’s constitution bars directors from being paid, confusingly it also says a director “with the approval of the (other) directors, may be paid by FFA for services rendered to it”. To be fair to Dodd, her well-established legal career has been heavily diluted by the sheer amount of work she does as an FFA representative.
“Moya does an enormous amount of travel in relation to her international football positions with FIFA and the AFC,” an FFA spokesman said. “The FFA board determined a few years ago that she should be compensated for the services which provide benefits to FFA and the impact on her professional career of those football commitments.”
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Originally published as Football Confidential: Michael Brown collected a $1m-plus bonus from FFA after Asian Cup success