Canadian Soccer Association executives will be doing double duty as the organizers of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.
CSA announced Wednesday that president Victor Montagliani, vice-president of Shaw Sabey & Associates insurance in Vancouver, will chair the national organizing committee. CSA general secretary Peter Montopoli was named CEO.
The 24-team tournament will be hosted in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal and Moncton. The tournament logo will be unveiled Friday at BC Place in a nationally telecast TSN event.
Other directors include CSA vice-president Steven Reed, former Newfoundland and Labrador Soccer Association president Doug Redmond, 1999 Team Canada captain Janine Helland and Walter Sieber, a member of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics board who was director-general of sport at the Montreal 1976 Olympics.
Montopoli was the national event director for the Canadian-hosted FIFA Under-20 World Cup in 2007 before taking the CSA job. He also worked as general co-ordinator of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
CSA chief financial officer Sean Heffernan will double as CFO for Canada 2015, while business development director Sandra Gage will be chief marketing and communications officer.
Joe Guest, the director of the 2012 CONCACAF Women's Olympic qualifying tournament at BC Place Stadium, is the chief competitions officer. Don Hardman was appointed chief stadia officer. Hardman was vice-president and general manager of the 2009 World Police and Fire Games and general manager of the 2007 Under-20 World Cup.
BC Place is expected to be chosen as the venue for the championship final, which will be a bigger global TV draw than the 2010 Winter Olympics men's hockey final. FIFA estimated the global TV audience for Japan's upset win over the United States at the 2011 Women's World Cup in Germany was 62.8 million viewers.
