Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has been appointed as FIFA’s new chief of global football development, with the Frenchman set to oversee the growth of the sport plus technical matters, soccer’s world governing body said on Wednesday.
The 70-year-old was recently linked with the Bayern Munich job following the sacking of Niko Kovac but said that while he was approached he was never a candidate for the job.
Wenger will be the leading authority on technical matters on FIFA’s Football and Technical Advisory Panels involved in the International Football Association Board (IFAB) review and decision-making process on potential changes to the game’s laws.
He will also be the chair of a technical study group.
“I look forward to taking on this important challenge, not only because I have always been interested in analysing football from a broader perspective but also because FIFA’s mission… is truly global,” Wenger said in the FIFA statement.