Romy Gai has been appointed as FIFA‘s Chief Business Officer, succeeding Kay Madati, who will leave the organisation as Chief Commercial Officer in the coming months for personal reasons.
Romy comes to FIFA from AWE International Group, where he served as Chairman since 2015. Prior to that, he spent 14 years as Chief Revenue Officer & Marketing Director and CEO Assistant at Juventus FC in Italy, as well as a spell as CEO of the UAE Football League (UFL) in the UAE.
“FIFA has many opportunities to grow football in our fast-changing world, and I look forward to ensuring that our commercial team plays a substantial part in ensuring that world football’s governing body will be at the centre of all these important business developments in order to benefit our sport globally,” said Gai in a statement.
Gai’s appointment comes on the heels of Madati’s exit, who will be staying on until the end of June 2022 to assist the commercial division with the transition.
“As Chief Business Officer, Romy’s appointment will further strengthen FIFA’s commitment to our commercial and marketing partners,” stated FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura who has high hopes as well as trust in Romy Gai. “He has had a lifetime involvement in football, and we are delighted to have his expertise to help shape our future business ventures across the world.”
On this development, Madati stated, “It has been an honour and privilege to lead this dynamic commercial team, and work hand in hand with our partners and the FIFA management team to grow this beautiful game. This personal decision to focus on my family has not come lightly, and I remain committed to collaborating closely with Romy to set him, our partners, and the entire FIFA team up for success as we collectively head towards a very special FIFA World Cup in Qatar.”
“I would also like to thank Kay for his commitment during his time with us. One of Kay’s mandates on arrival was to cultivate and develop the countless opportunities today’s virtual multimedia landscape offers football to fulfil our FIFA Vision 2020-2023 goal of making the game truly global. The launch of FIFA+ is testament to his work and to that of the team that Romy inherits as part of FIFA’s Commercial division,” added Samoura when asked about Kay’s contribution towards FIFA.