BOARD & GOVERNANCE
Our GovernanceDownload and view the attached PDF file below to read in full the details of our governance and the interaction between our two companies within the England Futsal Group: England Futsal Ltd and England Futsal Community C.I.C.
England Futsal Group - About Us & Our Governance
Read on to learn more about our group of directors on our England Futsal Ltd board and our England Futsal Community C.I.C. board.
OUR BOARD MEMBERS: ENGLAND FUTSAL LTD
STEPHEN MITCHELL
BOARD CHAIR
Stephen “Mitch” Mitchell currently oversees a portfolio of businesses operating across sport and physical activity, including his own consultancy business, Sporting People. He also co-founded Sport for Confidence CIC, a unique, pioneering, and multi-award-winning organisation which supports people who face barriers to participation as they get involved in a variety of sporting activities in mainstream settings.
Mitch is closely involved with frontline delivery of sport and physical activity programmes, and a recognized thought leader around workforce solutions across the Sector – trusted by national organisations such as Sport England and CIMSPA. Mitch chairs the boards of an Ofqual regulated Awarding Organisation (Transcend Awards) which he led through regulatory approval; an Ofsted regulated independent training Provider (Creative Sport and Leisure); and a DfE approved independent school for SEMH children (the Omnia Foundation).
He has led Boards or been a Director/Trustee of Boards who have achieved the highest standards of governance in line with the Sports Governance Code. He has recently stepped down (after 8 years) from being the Independent Chairperson of Parkour UK (overseeing its recognition as a sport and as an NGB) and has also recently stepped down from the Board of Active Essex (where he led the RACE Equality Review and long-term commitment to the Race Equality Code. He is Trustee of the Coach Core Foundation (Coaching Apprenticeships for LSEG audiences) and Switch the Play Foundation (athlete wellbeing and mental health).
Mitch is an alumnus of Loughborough University where he studied Sports Science. A retired rugby player, he is a firm believer in the positive power of sport and the role it can play in changing lives, particularly for future generations.
BEN TADMOR
BOARD MEMBER
Ben has spent almost 20 years driving change and improving standards in Sports Development. He has diverse experience within the industry ranging from front line delivery, to development & planning to delivering strategic change. He strives to engage young children through sport, igniting a passion to participate and enjoy activity as a lifelong habit.
The Futsal community may know Ben as a former Assistant Coach to the Men’s Senior Futsal Team, as the U19 Men’s pathway lead or as an FA Futsal Coach Educator. Having been introduced to Futsal in 2004, Ben evolved with the development of the game in England and has experienced National League, FA Futsal Cup & UEFA Futsal Champions League campaigns with domestic teams.
Away from Futsal, Ben has also led a number of successful corporate promotions including the planning & delivery of a Talent ID program on behalf of an iconic global brand as part of their FIFA World Cup marketing campaign.
Ben is married to Alice and they have 3 children: Herbie 11, Eadie 10 & Ottie 7. All 3 children enjoy playing sport so on the very rare occasions that the family are not on the side lines of a pitch, together they enjoy participating in water sports, playing on the beach & taking the dog for a muddy walk.
ANDY HICKS
BOARD MEMBER
Andy was a keen sportsman growing up but found his true calling being outdoors playing golf. After a successful amateur career Andy turned professional aged 18, but soon found that he was more at home within the business side of golf rather than the playing side. After running some of the country’s best municipal golf courses, Andy broke ground and co-founded an athlete management company, focusing on the mental and emotional well-being of their clients, which included Premier League footballers, cricketers & athletes.
Always working with a keen eye and interest in technology, Andy is now considered one of Europe’s leading sports technology & business advisors, having spent the last 6 years advising some of the world’s leading Sports Technology companies and rights-holders. Andy has an in-depth knowledge of the sports ecosystem from grassroots participation software to sports TV broadcast graphics and has worked with the likes of BT Sport, European Tour, Nike & Manchester United.
Andy is happiest at home in Warwick, with his fiance Lorna, an ITU Nurse, and his daughters Amie, 12 and Georgia 8, where they spend their weekends going on walks or adventures in their dinghy on the River Avon. After a 20-year hiatus, Andy has recently started playing basketball again, but to a much slower standard.
PATRICK ROONEY
BOARD MEMBER
Patrick’s construction career started in 1984, eventually leading to the formation of his construction management business in 2000. The business model focused on transparency, teamwork & collaboration as opposed to the standard adversarial approach that dominates the industry. By identifying client business objectives we were able to offer a balance of risk, incentive and profit to both client & supply chain that created a team atmosphere and focus.
Patrick’s sporting passion has always centred around football and his proudest football boast is walking off the Wembley pitch with Diego Maradona in 1980 after his European debut; Maradona the new superstar of world football and Patrick the ballboy. In March 2020 Patrick opened the first outdoor futsal court in England underneath the Westway, his proudest achievement.
Patrick is committed to futsal and what it offers to developing talent. In June 2021 Patrick formed Aloysius FC, a charity community club that connected local schools and the community to offer football to all and is proud to see the development of players and the pride of parents. For 25 years Wednesday’s have been 5-a-side, Champions League and teammate footy chat.
Patrick’s wife Caroline and children Eleanor, Alice and Joseph are central to all parts of his businesses and charitable work.
MICHAEL ‘SKUBES’ SKUBALA
BOARD MEMBER
Michael is currently Head Coach of EFL League One club, Lincoln City, having previously been Leeds United interim Head Coach, England Football National Team Development Coach (U18s) and England Futsal Head Coach & Performance Manager, taking the baton from Pete Sturgess and Graeme Dell.
Michael is known as one of the biggest advocates and architects of futsal in England and boasts an impressive CV, starting out as a PE & Psychology teacher and spending time as Director of Football at Loughborough University on the way to his current roles. Michael is also an entrepreneur, supporting many other organisations and is Chair of the British Universities & Colleges Sport Football & Futsal Sport Advisory Group. He is advisor to the National Futsal Series board and holds numerous other positions with private businesses.
A highly technically proficient and professional coach with over 20 years performance experience, Michael is a strong decision-maker in performance budget management and key strategy design to maximise performance goals.
OUR BOARD MEMBERS: ENGLAND FUTSAL COMMUNITY C.I.C.
VICKY BIRKBY
COMMUNITY NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Vicky is a strategic and commercially focused executive with experience across high-performing businesses and sports teams. Her career spans strategy and business consulting, and more recently an executive role at a start-up bank, where she helped shape the strategy, drive transformation and support the growth of Vida Bank.
Alongside her professional career, Vicky has been involved in Football and Futsal for over 25 years. She represented Great Britain in Futsal at the World University Games and won both the Women’s National Futsal Tier 1 League and Grand Final with Bloomsbury.
Vicky has joined the England Futsal Community C.I.C. Board bringing unwavering passion to support the growth of Futsal, from grassroots to the elite game.
Vicky is married to Dom and has two young daughters. She hopes they will discover the same love of sport, faith and community that has helped shape her life and the opportunities it brings to build confidence, resilience, and teamwork.
NATALIE STRANGE
INDEPENDENT NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Natalie is a commercial strategist and founder of Strange & Co Advisory. She works with organisations across sport and business to shape commercial strategy, develop partnerships and support sustainable growth.
Natalie spent over two decades in senior leadership roles at the Barclays Group, covering commercial strategy, partnerships, sales leadership and marketing. She built and led large commercial teams, developed new propositions and helped scale solutions for major corporate clients.
Alongside her advisory work, Natalie is passionate about the role sport can play in changing lives. She is particularly committed to improving access to sport and accelerating the growth and visibility of girls and women’s sport.
She brings a combination of corporate commercial experience and entrepreneurial thinking to board roles, helping organisations build strategic partnerships that deliver long-term impact.
Outside work Natalie lives in Manchester with her family. She spends much of her time cheering from the sidelines as her children play every sport under the sun. When she is not playing netball herself or sitting in freezing cold lakes in Wales, she is a self-confessed fair weather tennis player, meaning her racquet remains permanently rusty. She is rarely seen without her sidekick, Tiny Lulu, her miniature dachshund.
CHRIS BRIGHT
COMMUNITY NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Chris has been involved in futsal for over a decade, representing Wales internationally and contributing across the sport as a player, coach, England Futsal Commission Member and advocate. His experience in the game has shaped much of his work, with a particular interest in how sport can support people and communities.
Alongside his futsal background, Chris works for Breakthrough T1D, focusing on improving the lives of people affected by Type 1 Diabetes. Living with the condition himself, he founded The Diabetes Football Community in 2017 to create a space where people with diabetes involved in football and futsal could share experiences, find support, and access practical information. This community interest company, and movement, has since grown into a trusted resource for players, coaches and families around the world.
Chris is also an Honorary Fellow of the University of Worcester, a recognition of his contributions to public engagement, education and health-related work. He continues to collaborate with universities, charities and sporting organisations on projects that link physical activity, well-being and community development, and has played a pivotal role in the development of the first set of guidance on Diabetes for the sports sector, submitted to the UK government in 2026.
Away from work, Chris remains closely connected to grassroots Futsal and Football and still plays and coaches. He values time with family and friends, travelling, and being involved in local community initiatives.
DAVID MELI
INDEPENDENT NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
David has held a broad range of roles in public and private sector organisations across his 38 years in the sports industry, after coming to terms with the fact that a paid playing career was unlikely to materialise. From starting out as a sports development officer, through working on the Lucozade Sport sponsorship of the Premier League, to heading up sales and marketing across the four National Sports Centres, and managing the reopening of Stoke Mandeville Stadium, he has gained a wealth of experience and knowledge that he is now keen to give back to grassroots and performance sport.
He was part of the first relationship management team at Sport England, at the time of the London 2012 Olympics, helping to oversee the £480m investment into national governing bodies. David then spent almost seven years as CEO of England Handball, growing a developing sport through engagement with a network of national and local partners, including schools and clubs, that resulted in handball being included in the GCSE curriculum for PE and increasing participation in the sport. Since July 2023, David has been a Sport Advisor for UK Sport, working with the Boards, CEOs and Senior Leadership Teams of a portfolio of funded partners to support the Organisational Health of each organisation in areas such as strategy, governance, finance, culture, stakeholder engagement and international relations.
David is based near York with his wife Stephanie, who runs her own marketing company, and their dog Milo. His daughter Francesca recently graduated from York St John University, whilst son Aiden is currently on a football (the 11-a-side version) scholarship in Oklahoma, USA and, alongside travel, music and watching a wide variety of sports, they all help keep David happy and active outside of the day job.
DAN LICHTENSTEIN
COMMUNITY NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Dan is General Counsel and Company Secretary of Grant Thornton International Ltd (GTIL), the international coordinating entity of the Grant Thornton network of assurance, tax and advisory firms. He has held these positions since 1 January 2013.
His main roles are to protect the "Grant Thornton" brand around the world and to advise the GTIL global executive and board about legal issues and risks and how to mitigate them. This includes handling matters related to governance, policies, intellectual property, litigation, regulation, contracts, insurance and cyber.
Dan holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) and a joint Juris Doctor/Master of Arts from the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign). He also recently completed an Executive Education/Senior Leadership Programme course at the Harvard Business School. He is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
Dan has served on the boards of various organisations, focused on different areas, including education and sport and is also an England Futsal Commission Member.
He moved from Chicago to London in 2010 with his wife and three (3) children. His favourite quote and one he applies to everyday life is by Ted Lasso – “Be curious, not judgemental”.
STEPHEN MITCHELL
INDEPENDENT CHAIR
SION KITSON
HEAD OF DEVELOPMENT & TECHINAL
Siôn has been involved in futsal since 2004. As a player he represented Great Britain at two World University Games and played international futsal for Wales for 5 years.
Captaining his country and scoring at international level are his proudest playing moments.
He has also had the honour of coaching the England & Wales U19s as well as the England U21s and being assistant coach for the Men’s senior team over the last 8 years. He is now currently our Head of Development and Technical and doubles up as the Lionesses Head Coach.
Siôn has had a diverse career working across the sports industry for almost 20 years. Primarily in the areas of coaching, workforce development and talent development, Sion had occupied roles with Sport England, The FA, England Hockey as well as within the leisure sector.
Siôn has two children, Arthur (11) who enjoys Parkour and Karate and Sadie (8) who is passionate about gymnastics. His wife Emma, keeps him grounded by reminding him there is more to life than futsal. That is because outside of his role with England Futsal, Siôn is often still coaching and playing futsal.
BETH JENKINSON-GARNER
HEAD OF OPERATIONS
Beth is a multi-award-winning sports development professional who uses her two core values of integrity and curiosity to ensure the best possible experience: Seeking to immerse herself in a landscape to understand, and then deliver, bespoke, high-quality service. Beth a specialist in creating and delivering people development, operational planning and developing impactful relationships with key stakeholders at a national level. A qualified futsal coach and ex-player she is excited to apply her professional superpowers to support the sport through the next phase of its journey.
As our Head of Operations, she will lead on the day-to-day running of England Futsal, servicing the community, reporting into our board and managing our projects & partners. Complex and “wicked” problems are the highlights of her working week (all we have to do is fuel her with Yorkshire tea and the occasional flattering comment).
Always a keen rather than elite athlete, outside of work you’ll find Beth being the only smiler in the bunker, racking up her loyalty stamps in the local book shop, overfeeding her wonderful wife with her latest culinary exploits and tag teaming the Sunday crossword with her family.
England Futsal are always open to hear from individuals from across the Futsal Community who might be interested in additional roles, paid and voluntary, to support the development of England Futsal.
To register your interest in future opportunities please fill in the form below.
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