Other website sections

»Sports Market Reports

»Sports Jobs

»Tenders

»Directory

»Conferences

Tennis has launched a global executive search that could have major implications for the Football Association's ambitions to appoint a replacement for Brian Barwick.

The FA's chief executive quits at Christmas, which is when the Association of Tennis Professionals is due to appoint a successor to Etienne De Villiers. The South African has been the ATP's executive chairman but will hand over the post - or two separate roles of chairman and chief executive - when his contract expires at the year's end.

One leading candidate is Andy Anson, the former commercial director of Manchester United who has been the ATP's chief executive for Europe since quitting Old Trafford two years ago. Predictably, given his skills set, Anson's name has widely been raised as a prime candidate for the Soho Square vacancy.

Should he favour a potential promotion in tennis over a return to English football, the ATP has other strong internal candidates such as Mark Young and Phil Anderson. A trained lawyer, Young is its chief executive for North America and was the architect of the successful litigation against the Hamburg Open that asserted the ATP's rights to alter its own calendar while Anderson was once chief executive of the Scottish Rugby Union.

While Nolan Partners are leading the search for a chief executive on behalf of the FA, it is Spencer Stuart who will widen the net beyond tennis. It ran the failed search for a chief executive of Arsenal but will take a shortlist to the ATP's board for its consideration early next month.

(Source: Guardian.co.uk)