Sports marketer Sarah Kendall has been appointed head of commercial partnerships at the Football Association (FA), as the English governing body returns to the Fuse agency to fill a key commercial role.
SportBusiness understands that Kendall, UK managing director of Fuse, will begin work in the role on May 8. She will report to commercial director James Gray, who is responsible for developing and executing the FA’s commercial strategy.
Kendall has been managing director at London-based Fuse since February 2022, having initially joined the company as head of PR and communications in 2015. The move reunites her with FA chief executive Mark Bullingham, previously of Fuse.
She takes over the position at the FA following the departure last year of another Fuse alumnus, Stephen Hutchison. He left the FA in August 2024, and is currently commercial strategic consultant for Scottish Premiership club Celtic.
Both sports marketers have links to Bullingham, who was Fuse’s chief executive, EMEA, for five years, from 2011 to 2016, before joining the FA, in 2016, as its commercial and marketing director. His role was broadened to that of chief commercial and football development officer in December 2018, before his appointment to the top job in 2019.
Although Bullingham can make recommendations for commercial jobs at the FA, employment rules mean he is obliged to step aside in the overall process, which was managed by Gray.
Previous incumbents of the head of commercial partnerships position were responsible for helping to drive revenue across sponsorship, retail and licensing, as well as tours and hire of Wembley Stadium. It is thought that the role will entail less focus on retail and licensing going forward.
With most of the major sponsorship properties now locked up for the current cycle – main sponsor EE is contracted until 2028 and Nike until 2030 – there is no immediate sponsorship sales pressure on the commercial department.
Among other duties, the head of commercial partnerships role requires working with major partners on activation plans and liaison with the different FA departments, from elite down to the grassroots, to ensure there is commercial collaboration.
Commenting on the new hire, Gray told SportBusiness: “Sarah has over 20 years’ experience across commercial sport and sponsorship marketing, including at M&C Saatchi, Dentsu and Omnicom. Having spent seven years in senior leadership roles at Omnicom’s global specialist sport agency, Fuse […] Sarah will bring a wealth of expertise to the role, and we look forward to welcoming her to The FA when she joins us in May.”
As well as EE and Nike, the FA’s sponsorship portfolio includes Emirates, Adobe, M&S, Chase and Google, among others, across FA properties such as the England men’s, women’s and para teams; the Emirates FA Cup and Adobe Women’s’ FA Cup; Wembley National Stadium and St. George’s Park national football centre.