NZF battles ‘fluid’ financial position

New Zealand Football posted its biggest financial loss after transfers this century, leaving it with reserves of $6.1m heading into this year.

The $764,000 loss for 2019 was announced yesterday following the game’s annual congress, held online due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

It was a $178,000 improvement on the budgeted loss of $942,000, which meant NZ Football did not make a planned transfer from its international teams reserve fund.

But with a further loss of

$1.15m budgeted for in 2020

($1.35m including planned transfers), the organisation’s overall financial stocks are set to continue to decrease after a strong period of growth that has left it in a healthy position overall.

Chief executive Andrew Pragnell said it was still too early to tell what the full ramifications of

Covid-19 would be on NZ Football’s finances this year.

‘‘The reality [is] that the sports system and some of the things it has relied and depended on of late are about to change.

‘‘We’re running forecasts on a monthly basis at the moment based on the number of variables we’re encountering and it’s about acknowledging the fluidity of the situation and making sure those forecasts continue to be updated.’’

The $764,000 deficit in 2019 was the largest NZ Football has announced in the 21st century,

$265,000 greater than its $499,000 deficit in 2007.

NZ Football has made a habit

over the past decade of using transfers from the international teams fund to announce surpluses in years where its overall financial position worsened.

Looking at annual results before transfers, the $764,000 loss in 2019 was $1000 less than 2018’s

$765,000 loss, as well as being smaller than those recorded in

2012 ($964,000) and 2016 ($1.7m), which still makes it the fourthlargest this century.

NZ Football’s reserves reached a high mark of $8.7m in 2013, after the organisation received a windfall from selling the TV rights to the All Whites’ World Cup qualifying playoff against Mexico that year.

There was brighter news from the elections for three vacancies on the game’s executive committee, where two women were

elected, which means NZ Football has reached the target set by the Government of 40 per cent female representation.

Former NZ Rugby finance chief Jannine Mountford was appointed to ExCo in December through to this year’s congress and was duly elected yesterday, as were Auckland Football chairman Bob Patterson and former Football Fern Sarah Gibbs.

Gibbs and Mountford join president Johanna Wood and Jackie Barron as the four women on the 10-strong committee.

Pragnell said it was fantastic to hit the 40 per cent mark ahead of the Government’s 2021 deadline.

‘‘It’s great. There’s only a handful of national bodies that are in this place right now and it’s good to be amongst them.’’