The NI Football League can announce the appointment of Ian Forrester as the league’s first Chief Commercial Officer.

Ian joins the team at NIFL having enjoyed almost twenty years’ experience in Marketing and Commercial environments through senior roles in JD Sports and STATSports.

Working with some of the biggest sporting brands and sporting icons in the world, Ian has always delivered growth where he has been, working across commercial partnerships, sponsorship and marketing he has supported a number of key commercial deals with sporting organisations including the Irish FA, US Soccer and Arsenal FC.

Ian stated, “The opportunity is one that I am greatly looking forward to, the NIFL product is one that offers national coverage across various platforms including the BBC and Sky Sports to a captive audience that is reflected through the 44 clubs we work with.

“The opportunity to commercialise and grow NIFL is an exciting one, working with existing partners and new ones I want to get more people aware of the exciting leagues and competition that we operate, through the partners and own marketing I will raise the profile of the NI Football League in Northern Ireland and beyond.”

Gerard Lawlor, NIFL Chief Executive stated, “This appointment is another huge step forward for our league, as Ian will be a key asset to both ourselves as a business but also our member clubs as we move into another new phase of our development.

“There has never been a better time to be involved in the Irish League, and we now want to capitalise on this to bring in new ideas and new fans to be part of the journey.

The Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL) is the organising body of top-level domestic men and women's league football in Northern Ireland and was formed in 2013 but can trace a direct lineage back to 1890 when predecessor the Irish Football League was founded.

The league has enjoyed considerable growth in the last ten years, with over 350,000 fans attending games, a TV broadcast audience of over 2.5million and dynamic digital channels that have a reach of over 25 million per season both here and abroad.