The World Players Association is the leading voice of organised players in the governance of world sport. It brings together 85,000 players across professional sport through more than 100 player associations in over 60 countries.

The vision of World Players is:

TO CHAMPION THE DIGNITY OF THE PLAYER AND THE HUMANITY OF SPORT by:

Exchange of best practice including the areas of player development and athlete wellbeing, commercialisation and organsing
Building the capacity of PA's to run successful commercial programs
Building the connectivity and opportunities for sharing among PA's word wide
Thought leadership to shape knowledge and insights in response to acute challenges

Advocating for systematic policy and cultural change at global and national level
A world of sport that is collectively bargained
Enhanced by building the power of the global player association movement by making unions stronger
Changing the global rules of the games to stop the abuse of athlete rights
Developing and enhancing the area of Player Development across our member association

For sometime, a small team have been working on building a training, skills and competency curriculum for the Player Development Manager. We believe this to be the first of its kind as it is designed by the PDM for the PDM and covers the essential building blocks to empower your journey as a PDM.

Meet The World Players Team

Click on the button below to read about our work in detail:

Matthew Graham is a Switzerland based, Australian labour lawyer, who has been the (Interim) Executive Director of World Players since May 2023, having previously been the Director of Legal & Player Relations at the World Players Association. Holding a Master’s of International Labour Law he focuses on , he focuses on building player association power and ensuring the rights of players as workers – and people – are respected, protected and upheld in global sport’s governance and institutions.

Since joining World Players in November 2017, Matthew has played a key role in achieving important reforms to the World Anti-Doping Code, securing acknowledgement that athlete rights are worker rights at the International Labour Organization (ILO) and supporting the player association response to the Covid-19 pandemic through best practice approaches to public and athlete health. Matthew plays a leading role in unifying and maintaining effective relationships with World Players’ affiliates.

Dr Gabiela Garton

An academic and a former member of FIFPRO’s Global Player Council and international professional footballer, having played in the United States, Argentina and Australia. She represented Argentina between 2015 and 2019, including at the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. In her role with World Players, she leads the Roar Room for Gender Equity, which brings together players, PA staff and experts to work to create a better present and future for female athletes.

Gabriela completed a PhD in Social Studies at the University of Buenos Aires and is a sessional lecturer and research assistant at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia. She is the author of Guerreras: Fútbol, mujeres y poder (Warriors: Football, women and power) (2019), an ethnography of elite women’s football in Argentina.

Florian Yelin

Florian is the Head of Policy and Research Coordinator at the World Player Association (World Players). His areas of expertise include legal research, sports law, international human rights, business/sport and human rights, and dispute resolution. He leads the thought leadership work of World players and is one of the authors of World Players’ #Right2Organise Report.

Florian studied law at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, with a specialisation in public international and human rights law. He holds a first state exam and is currently a master's candidate at Leuphana University in a program on Governance and Human Rights.

Pamela Gilpin

Working for World Players since 2019 and a PDM for 18 years, Pam leads on the Player Development work connecting PDM's globally through conferences (eg World Player Development Conferences, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024), webinars and creating resources that address current and arising issues for the PDM and their practice (eg CARE -Census for Athlete Rights and Experiences).

The main body of work falls under:

Promoting and facilitating the exchange of best practice between affiliates and players
Coordinating the World Player Development Steering Committee
Coordinating and encouraging the adoption and implementation of the World Player Development and Wellbeing Standard by player associations and sporting bodies
Supporting the elevation of the role of player development managers (PDMs)
Developing and implementing strategies for positioning World Players as a thought leader in this field.

To gain a better insight to the Player Development Conferences organised by World Players, watch the video below.

World Player Development & Wellbeing Steering Committee

In line with the WPD Standard (2017), the steering committee develop, share, and promote best practice in player development. They provide learning & development opportunities to serve the changing needs of our global network of practitioners with the goal of develop a community of practice, which facilitates the sharing of knowledge, skills, and experience within and across sport and cultures.

The Steering Committee are also responsible for delivering the Player Development Conferences. See an overview of the first day in Arizona 2024 below.

Working with coaches in the Daily Training Environment (DTE)

When engaging with coaches within the team environment, consider the following to foster a positive working relationship;

Learn the dynamics within your environment, know when to be present and when to step back
Tailor your interventions based on the training block, be prepared to be flexible and adjust based on the teams current status
Identify optimal moments to share insights with the coaching team, ensuring that your contributions align with the team's needs and objectives at the time

Working outside the Daily Training Environment (DTE)

Operating externally to the DTE is not uncommon and can be for a number of reasons:
- Your players are abroad at competition or training for long periods of time, but they do reside in your country for the majority of the time.
- Some of your players may have moved abroad to play their sport.
- You might not be fully embedded with the team and have no allocated work space in the DTE.
- You may support multiple teams in different locations
- An agreement might not be in place between the NGB and your Player Association so you cannot access the DTE.

No matter the circumstances, it is still important to consider how to build rapport and a solid relationship with your players and other support staff. Here are a few things to consider:

"Consider ways to build consistent contact and communication with ALL players; create systems that allow access for all. Face to face can accelerate relationships but its not always possible. Also consider groups you can involved with eg player wellbeing groups"

In Summary...
Identify who the key people are in the DTE to build rapport with
Consider the goals of the team and how your player development content might support these
Are there any unique things you can add to the environment that the SSST don't already provide?
Consider what you want to achieve on meeting them eg more access to players, ability to book time in the training diary for workshops or one to one meetings with players, access to the DTE, a space to work in or stronger relationships with staff, create referral pathways of players to you.
Can you provide factual and objective markers to back up your ideas
How are you going to connect and maintain a relationship with your players whilst working outside the DTE

If you feel any of the following are an issue please let us know

1. You should be currently working for a Player Association in a PDM role or similar.

2. Having a mentor is essential.

3. Candidates must be willing to undertake psychometric tests related to skills, values, working style preferences and provide pre and post course evaluations.

4. Your employer should be aware of this course and their role in the training (e.g. mentoring, role play, observations, feedback session, exposure to different environments).

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Thank you!

THE LEADING VOICE OF ORGANISED PLAYERS IN WORLD SPORT

Key Areas of Work

Building a great organisation

Making unions stronger

Thought leadership

Changing the global rules of the game

A New Venture

Meet The World Players Team

Walter Palmer

Matt Graham

Add job title

Dr Gabiela Garton

Player Relations Coordinator

Florian Yelin

Policy & Research Coordinator

Pamela Gilpin

Head of Player Development & Wellbeing

World Player Development & Wellbeing Steering Committee

Player Development Steering Committee, Nyon 2022

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