From Wimbledon to Wembley: Alexandra Willis on Rewriting the FA's Digital Playbook

The Football Association wrote the laws of the modern game. It has governed English football for 160 years. And until this year, it had never had a Chief Digital Officer. Alexandra Willis is the person who has taken on that role - and we joined her at Wembley Stadium, with the World Cup imminent and one of the most ambitious digital briefs in sport sitting in front of her. That brief spans the England men's and women's national teams, the FA Cup, grassroots football, and Wembley itself as a year-round venue. This conversation covers what to consider when building a digital strategy for an institution of the FA's complexity - how you create meaningful fan engagement around a national team when there's no weekly game to anchor it, how the squad selector and the England app going #1 on the App Store on announcement day signals a fundamental shift from broadcaster-led to FA-led moments, and why the future of fandom might be less about reach and more about a genuinely personal, direct relationship with the fan. Alexandra has spent 20 years moving through some of sport's most distinctive digital environments - Wimbledon, the Premier League, and now the FA - and her perspective on what each of those models taught her about fan engagement is one of the most considered you'll hear. If you work in sport, media, digital strategy or fan engagement, this one is essential listening. What you'll learn in this episode What to consider when your digital strategy has to serve a national team, a grassroots game, a cup competition and an iconic stadium - all at once. How the FA is approaching its fan relationships - building experiences like a squad selector and live blog that bring fans inside moments that once belonged entirely to broadcasters. On announcement day, the England app hit #1 on the App Store in the UK. Why fandom is fluid, not fixed - and what it means to move beyond direct-to-consumer to something genuinely direct-to-individual. Women's football is the fastest-growing sport in the world, but the commercial infrastructure is still growing. Alex draws on Wimbledon - one of the few properties with a genuinely even gender split across every platform - to explain what building properly for that audience actually requires. Why AI readiness starts with your data, not your tools - and why to consider not rushing in before the foundations are right. Sport's greatest asset in an AI-saturated world is its unpredictability. Alexandra makes the case for protecting it. Question The FA is making a deliberate shift from broadcaster-led moments to FA-led ones - owning the squad announcement, the live blog, the app experience. Is that the right move for governing bodies? And what would it take for your organisation to make the same shift? Drop your thoughts in the comments. What’s next? Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts - and if this episode made you think differently about AI in sport, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Useful resources Download the England App on: The App Store: https://apps.apple.com/app/the-offici... Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/de... Connect with Miheer:   / miheerwalavalkar   Connect with Alexandra:   / willisalexandra   Visit https://www.livelike.com/ Visit https://www.thefa.com/