Currently Chief of Football Affairs and Governance at World Sevens Football (W7F), driving the strategic development of the competition series and global stakeholder engagement, while also working as a senior advisor to clubs, investors, leagues and organisations on strategy, governance, and professionalisation.
For more than five years, Claire served as the European Club Association’s (ECA) first-ever Head of Women’s Football, leading a remarkable period of transformation, also serving as ECA’s representative on the UEFA Women’s Football Committee and the FIFA Professional Women’s Football Committee. She spearheaded Be a Changemaker, ECA’s inaugural women’s football strategy, and was instrumental in reshaping the club competition landscape, driving governance reform, and elevating the voice and status of women’s clubs across Europe.
Her work sits at the intersection of sporting, commercial, political, and high-performance matters, combining deep regulatory expertise with a strong instinct for innovation and stakeholder alignment. She has advised some of Europe’s biggest clubs, representing their interests to influence decisions at UEFA and FIFA level, and was a driving force behind the next generation of women’s club competitions, including the UEFA Women’s Europa Cup, launched in 2025/26.
She holds an Executive Master in Global Sport Governance (MESGO), with a thesis analysing Caitlin Clark’s ability to drive governance reform in the WNBA and redefine the league’s commercial trajectory. Working with industry-leading experts, Claire has also published research papers in leading academic journals, advancing the evidence base for women’s football and athlete performance.
Claire began her career as a journalist covering European football for national newspapers and broadcasters, including the New York Times, The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Sun, Sky Sports, BT Sport, and the BBC, before moving into roles at Chelsea and West Ham United. Renowned for securing exclusive interviews with the biggest names in world sport, including Sir Alex Ferguson, Lewis Hamilton, Kobe Bryant, and Usain Bolt, she built a reputation for drawing out their most compelling stories at the height of their careers. She later became one of the first dedicated women’s football correspondents in the UK national press, helping shape how the game was covered in England.
