Former rugby league boss David Gallop will become Australian football's new chief, the governing body said Tuesday, replacing Ben Buckley, who will stand down.
Football Federation Australia (FFA) said Buckley, who assumed his role at a crucial time in the game's development in the country in 2006, would remain in the post until negotiations on a new broadcast deal were finalised.
Buckley said he raised the idea of resigning with chairman Frank Lowy some months ago but wanted to finalise the broadcast deal before he left.
"The broadcast deal is at the heart of the future of football in this country and it has been the most critical aspect of my work for the past 18 months," Buckley said.
Lowy said Buckley was one of Australia's finest sports administrators.
"Ben has worked tirelessly for football both at home and abroad and has steered the game through a difficult period of consolidation," he said.
Football has struggled to find a place in Australia's crowded sporting calendar, and the domestic A-League has lost three clubs in six years after Gold Coast United were kicked out of the 10-team competition in February.
The FFA is now developing a new club in the sporting battleground of western Sydney, where rugby league dominates.
Gallop resigned in June after a tumultuous decade as Australian Rugby League chief during which he dealt with betting scams, numerous indiscretions by players and a major salary-cap scandal.
He became the NRL boss in 2002 in the aftermath of Rupert Murdoch's News Limited's breakaway Super League competition.
