38 Association football executives

A director of football is a senior management figure at an association football team most commonly in Europe. The exact nature of the role is often unclear and causes much debate in the sports media.

Iraj Arab is an Iranian sports executive and administrator who has been serving as president of the Persepolis Football Club. Arab was previously working as deputy chief of the Persepolis administrative and financial affairs, In December 2018, he replaced HamidReza Garshasbi.

Shahaboddin Azizi Khadem is an Iranian sports executive and administrator. On February 28, 2021, he became the president of the Football Federation of Iran by a majority of votes. He worked in the Ministry of Welfare and Social Security and was also the Parliamentary and Legal Deputy Minister of respective ministry.

Paul Bassey is a Nigerian Sports journalist and Sports administrator. He is also the Chairman of Akwa Ibom-based Akwa United.

Mogi Bayat, official name Arnaud Bayat, is an Iranian-French businessman. He is the head of football of the Football Club de Nantes since 2017. He is the nephew of Abbas Bayat and the brother of Mehdi Bayat.

Asdrubal Mendes Bentes was a Brazilian politician and lawyer from the state of Pará.

Charles Gordon Blazer was an American soccer administrator, who held a number of high level positions before becoming a government informant on widespread corruption within organized soccer. He was a FIFA Executive Committee member from 1996 to 2013, the CONCACAF General Secretary from 1990 until 2011, and Executive Vice President of the U.S. Soccer Federation.

Nathalie Katia Boy de la Tour is a French football executive. She has been president of the Ligue de Football Professionnel since 11 November 2016.

Benjamin Buckley is an Australian businessman, former Australian Rules Footballer and current chairman of the North Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League. He is the former chief executive officer of Football Federation Australia.

S. Robert "Bob" Contiguglia served as President of the United States Soccer Federation from 1998 to 2006. Among his achievements as President of U.S. Soccer were: successfully hosting the 1999 Women's World Cup, convincing FIFA to relocate the 2003 Women's World Cup to the United States after the original plans to host it in China fell through, the U.S. women's team winning gold at the 2004 Summer Olympics, and hiring Bruce Arena as coach for the United States men's national team. In May 2018, Contiguglia was selected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

Tomas Danilevičius is a Lithuanian former professional footballer and president of the Lithuanian Football Federation.

Dmitry Borisovich Fedoseev is a retired Russian football player (1993–1999), coach (1993—1998), and sports functionary (1993–1999) From 2004 to 2009 he was the chairman of the committee for physical culture, sports and tourism in the administration of Norilsk. From 2004 to 2009 he was the chief technologist of the Luzhniki Olympic Complex.

David Forsyth was a Canadian educator and soccer player and administrator. A member of the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame, he is known as the "Father of Canadian Soccer".

Erik von Frenckell was a Swedish-speaking Finnish nobleman, member of the Parliament of Finland, member of the International Olympic Committee and a vice president of the International Football Association FIFA.

Hamidreza Garshasbi is an Iranian sports executive and administrator who has been served as president of the Persepolis Football Club. in November 2017, Garshasbi replaced Ali Akbar Taheri as Persepolis acting president. Under leadership of Garshasbi, Persepolis defended their title in Persian Gulf Pro League and advanced to the final of the 2018 AFC Champions League.

Jean-Claude André Adolphe Hamel was the President of AJ Auxerre from 1963 to 2009, when he was replaced by Alain Dujon.

Andy Harper is a former Australian soccer player who played in Australia's National Soccer League (NSL) for Sydney City, Sydney Olympic, St George, Marconi, Brisbane Strikers, Newcastle Breakers and Newcastle United. Harper began a commentary career while still playing, working for Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), Channel 9, C7 Sport, ABC Radio and Fox Sports. He currently covers the A-League for Fox Sports as an expert commentator.

Issa Hayatou is a Cameroonian former athlete and sports executive. He served as the acting FIFA president until 26 February 2016 as the previous president, Sepp Blatter, was banned from all football-related activities in 2015 as a part of the FIFA corruption investigation of 2015. He was the president of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) between 1988 and 2017. In 2002, he ran for president of FIFA but was defeated by Blatter. He is also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Andrew Hessenthaler is an English football manager and former player who is currently manager of Dover Athletic. He began his career in non-league football and did not turn professional until he joined Watford at the age of 26. In 1996, Hessenthaler joined Gillingham and spent the next ten years at the club as player and later player-manager, managing the club to its highest ever finish in the English football league system and becoming regarded as a legend of the Kent club. After leaving Gillingham, he had a short spell at Barnet, before joining Dover Athletic in 2007. In his two seasons in charge he led the club to successive championships, of Isthmian League Division One South and the Isthmian League Premier Division. After three years at Dover, he became manager at Gillingham for the second time, but his contract was terminated at the end of the 2011–12 season. He returned to the club as assistant manager in 2014, before taking on a similar role at Leyton Orient the following year. In 2016, he was appointed manager of the club, but was sacked later the same year. In November he was appointed manager of Eastleigh, but the following year left to return to Dover.

Phil Ionadi is a Canadian businessman, soccer executive, former soccer player, head coach, and the general manager for the Canadian Arena Soccer Association.

Sergio Elías Jadue Jadue is the former president of the National Association of Professional Football of Chile (ANFP) and second vice president of the Conmebol. He pleaded guilty on the 2015 FIFA corruption case. In May 2016, Jadue was banned for life by the FIFA Ethics Committee.

Daniel Alexander "Danny" Jordaan is the president of the South African Football Association (SAFA). He is a former lecturer, politician and anti-apartheid activist. He led South Africa's successful 2010 FIFA World Cup bid, the first successful one for Africa, as well as the country's unsuccessful bid four years earlier for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and was the Chief Executive Officer of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa. He is also the former Mayor of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, having served from May 2015 until August 2016.

Ali Kafashian is an Iranian businessman, economist, a retired athlete and former president of the Iranian Football Federation, a position he had held from 1 March 2008 to 7 May 2016. As of May 2015, he also serves as one of five Vice presidents at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

Gerhard Kapl was an Austrian state official, referee and football official.

Keramuddin Keram is a politician in Afghanistan, who has served as Governor of Panjshir Province till November 2, 2013. He was Chief of staff in the Ministry of Defense under Mohammed Fahim between 2002 and December 2004. He is an ethnic Tajik. He is the current president of the Afghanistan Football Federation, a position he has held since 2004.

Sheik Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa is a member of the House of Khalifa, the royal family of Bahrain. He has been president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) since 2 May 2013. Before becoming president of AFC, he was president of Bahrain Football Association (BFA) (2002–13) and also Chairman of the Asian Football Confederation Disciplinary Committee, and Deputy Chairman of the FIFA Disciplinary Committee. He is a member of the FIFA Council and chairman of the FIFA Development Committee.

Johan Hugo Levin was a Swedish athlete, football player and sports administrator. Hugo Levin served in numerous sports organisations and was one of the initiators to the construction of the Gamla Ullevi stadium in Gothenburg.

Jackie McNamara is a Scottish professional football manager and executive, and former player. He is a former Scotland international, who filled a variety of defensive roles in his playing career.

Mohsen Safaei Farahani is an Iranian reformist politician.

Fernand Sastre was a French football official who was President of the French Football Federation from 1972 to 1984.

Richard Craig Scudamore CBE is an English sports executive.

Mehdi Taj is an Iranian sports executive and administrator who was president of the Iranian Football Federation from 2016 until 2019. As of May 2020, Mehdi has been appointed a member of the Asian Football Confederation Emergency Committee.

Ali Targholizadeh is an Iranian professional futsal director, Asian Football Confederation's head of technical and Futsal department, and former clubs president in the leagues of Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran as well as former FIFA and AFC, football and futsal instructor. For over 15 years, Targholizadeh has played in many Iranian football clubs such as Taj F.C. (Persian:تاج), which is known as Esteghlal F.C. today, Bank Melli F.C., Karegaran F.C. (Persian:کارگران), Mazda F.C. (Persian:مزدا), Keshavarz F.C. (Persian:کشاورز) and Saazmaneh Goosht F.C.. In his early life in Iran, he has also managed teams such as Kosar F.C. (Persian:کوثر), Azerbaijan F.C. (Persian:آذربایجان) and Keshavarz F.C. (Persian:کشاورز). Targholizadeh has been a member of Asian Football Confederation since 2004 and is known as one of the oldest associates in the Asian House in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Carlo Tavecchio is an Italian politician, sports executive, and administrator.

Vincent Ursini is a Canadian accountant, former soccer executive, and stage actor.

Benedict Yarsiah is a Liberian lawyer who serves as the director of competition and legal affairs of the Liberia Football Association. He is also a former FIFA referee who served as Chief Referee of the Liberia Football Referee Association (LIFRA). Yarsiah has worked for the LFA for over 30 years.

Zhang Jilong is a Chinese football administrator who is the current senior vice president of Asian Football Confederation. He previously served as a Vice President of AFC from 2002 to 2011 and as Senior Vice President from 11 January 2007 to 1 August 2011. He had been the Acting President of the Asian Football Confederation from 14 June 2011 until 1 May 2013 after the resignation of Mohammed Bin Hammam. He was also a member of the FIFA Executive Committee.

Dr. Theo Zwanziger is a German lawyer and sports official. He was the president of the German Football Association (DFB) from 2006 to 2012. For his contributions to German football, he received the Bundesverdienstkreuz in 2005.