Peter Montopoli has been appointed as chief operating officer Canada for the FIFA World Cup 2026.
Montopoli (pictured left) has been general secretary of Canada Soccer for the last 14 years, and was CEO of the National Organising Committee for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015™ and Canada’s Bid Director for the successful United 2026 bid.
“I would like to thank FIFA for the opportunity to be a part of the once-in-a-generation opportunity to lead Canada’s co-hosting of the FIFA World Cup 2026 along with Mexico and the United States and I very much look forward to working with all stakeholders to deliver the world’s largest single-sport event,” said Montopoli.
“I’m saddened to be leaving Canada Soccer. It’s been 14 wonderful years, for sure. But I feel like it’s the right time. Hard to leave certainly, but the opportunity was very attractive as well.”
Joe Guest, Canada Soccer’s deputy general secretary, will help fill the void after Montopoli’s departure on an interim basis.
XFL, the American football league, has announced nine executive hires as the league prepares for its return to the field in 2023.
Major recruits include Russ Brandon (pictured centre) as president, league and football operations, Rob Gerbe as chief financial officer, and Jordan Schlachter as chief business officer.
Brandon was previously the managing partner and president of the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.
Dewayne Hankins (pictured right) has become president of business operations at the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers following the departure of president and chief executive Chris McGowan.
McGowan steps down after nine years in the position. Hankins previously served as chief commercial officer and executive vice president.
The team’s front office reshuffle comes during a workplace misconduct investigation involving Neil Olshey, the Blazers president of basketball operations.
Yorkshire CCC has seen a number of departures in the wake of a controversy over an investigation into the treatment of a former player.
Chief executive Mark Arthur has resigned with immediate effect, with Paul Hudson, currently finance director, appointed as acting CEO.
Yorkshire CCC said the recruitment process for the appointment of a full-time chief executive will begin in due course.
The change comes after Lord Patel of Bradford was appointed as chair of the club earlier this month following the resignation of Roger Hutton.
The Premier League has appointed Tony Scholes as its new chief football officer, to effectively replace Richard Garlick, who departed for Arsenal earlier this year.
Scholes will take up the role in early 2022, when he leaves his role as chief executive of Stoke City after 17 years with the club.
Scholes said: “Making the decision to leave the club after a long time has been extremely difficult but I feel the time is right to embrace the new challenge that my role with the Premier League will give me.”
Do you have news of an appointment that we should know about? Get in touch by emailing news.editor@thestadiumbusiness.com and we’ll include it in our next round-up.
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