Chelsea Women hire Burnley’s Lola Ogunbote to run football operations

Lola Ogunbote | Image by Chelsea Women’s FC

Chelsea Women have appointed Lola Ogunbote, the administrator who took Burnley’s women’s programme from the third tier to promotion, as Head of Football Operations and Player Services. Ogunbote, who has worked with teams across Africa and runs girls’ football programmes on the continent, joins one of the most successful clubs in the women’s game.

Her time at Burnley

Ogunbote announced her move on LinkedIn, almost five years after joining Burnley in 2021 as the club’s first Head of Women’s Football. Her remit at Turf Moor covered recruitment, player development, performance structures and football operations. It ended with promotion, Burnley won the FA Women’s National League Northern Premier Division in April and moved up to WSL 2.

Burnley confirmed in June that she would leave at the end of the month. “It has been an incredible privilege to serve as Head of Women’s Football at Burnley Football Club over the past five years,” Ogunbote said at the time. Chairman Alan Pace said she had been “instrumental in driving our women’s football vision forward.”

Chelsea Football Club Women

By her own account, her first three months at Chelsea have covered a pre-season tour of Australia and New Zealand, the move of all home league fixtures to Stamford Bridge, Champions League home games at AFC Wimbledon and the start of the WSL campaign.

“It’s been a whirlwind start. I’m deeply grateful to our leadership for the trust, and to the mentors, allies, and safe spaces that helped me make this decision,” she wrote.

Born in Nigeria and a UK-qualified lawyer, Ogunbote moved into football with Arsenal in 2016 and went on to work with men’s and women’s teams across Asia, Africa, Australia, North America and Europe. She is executive director of Goals for Girls, a US non-profit using football to create opportunities for girls, with much of its work in Africa. Her appointment follows that of former CAF Chief Operating Officer Abi Ijasanmi, who has joined the new board of Charlton Athletic Women, adding to the number of executives with African football experience in senior roles in the English women’s game.