The English Football Association announced on its official website on Wednesday that it has appointed former Newcastle United and Manchester United English Sporting Director Dan Ashworth, as its Chief Football Officer.

According to the English Football Association's official statement, Ashworth will formulate and lead the development affairs and strategy of English football, which is the first time that the FA has established such a position.

At the same time, during his tenure, Ashworth will be responsible for overseeing the improvement of all facilities at St. George's Park (the English Football Association's headquarters and training complex) to ensure that the England national team can lead the world in terms of technical aspect, and will also be committed to promoting the continuous development in terms of technical aspects in women's football.

Ashworth will work closely with Technical Director John McDermott and the successor to women's football Technical Director Kay Cossington, and report to Mark Bullingham, the English Football Association's Chief Executive Officer.

Regarding the appointment of Ashworth, Bullingham said through the English Football Association official website: "Dan is a highly influential and respected figure in football and has long-term experience in contributing to English football."

"We are very happy to welcome him back to our organization in this new position."

It is worth mentioning that Ashworth served as the Technical Director of the English Football Association from 2013 to 2019, so he is no stranger to being the hero behind the scenes for the Three Lions.

About Dan Ashworth

Ashworth, 54, was born in Norwich, England on March 6, 1971. Together with his brother Paul, they were a player in the Norwich City youth academy, but neither of them was promoted to the first-team and retired.

After retiring, Ashworth played for non-league clubs while studying at university and taught classes for young children at the football academy established by his brother.

From the summer of 2000 to February 2004, Ashworth served as the youth academy director of Peterborough United and Cambridge United.

In March 2004, Ashworth was appointed as the assistant coach of the West Bromwich Albion youth academy team. In July of the same year, he was promoted to the head coach of the youth academy team. Later, in December 2007, he moved to behind the scenes role as the club's Sporting and Technical Director.

From 2013 to 2019, Ashworth served as the English Football Association's Technical Director.

In the spring of 2019, Ashworth was appointed as the Sporting Director at Brighton, and made a lot of contributions to the Seagulls becoming one of the dark horses in the Premier League.

In February 2022, Ashworth was appointed as the Newcastle United Sporting Director.

During his two-year spell with the Magpies, Ashworth helped the club sign star players such as Alexander Isak, Sven Botman, Nick Pope, Sandro Tonali, and Harvey Barnes.

In July 2024, Ashworth became Manchester United's Sporting Director.

However, five months later, Ashworth parted ways with the Premier League giants due to a complete fallout with shareholder Sir Jim Ratcliffe over different ideas