A passionate advocate of equality and inclusion in sports, Joyce Cook will take up the role of FIFA Chief Member Associations Officer on 1 November 2016. This position was created as part of the restructuring of FIFA’s administration and entails the delivery of a key goal in the recently established FIFA vision: investment in football development through FIFA’s 211 member associations under the FIFA Forward Programme. The Englishwoman will report directly to FIFA Deputy Secretary General (Football) Zvonimir Boban, and she will be part of the FIFA Management Board.

Joyce has a proven record of developing and delivering far-reaching and sustainable diversity and inclusion projects at both national and international levels, with a broad knowledge of football structures and governance. She is the founder and managing director of the Centre for Access to Football in Europe (CAFE) and internationally recognised as expert adviser on accessible stadiums and the built environment for sports events and services, including handbooks developed by FIFA and UEFA for their flagship events.

At FIFA, she was part of the jury for the first FIFA Diversity Award, which was presented to Indian NGO Slum Soccer on 26 September. During the 2014 FIFA World Cup™, she supported FIFA in making the event more accessible to disabled people and was involved in the project that offered audio-descriptive commentary for partially sighted and blind fans. Currently, she is also a board member at FARE, a director at Women in Football and a board member at the Sports Grounds Safety Authority.