Jason Wagenheim appointed as ceo of North America

Footballco has announced the appointment of Bustle Digital Group’s (BDG) Jason Wagenheim to the newly-created position of CEO, North America, effective January 8, 2024. 

Wagenheim will operate out of Footballco’s New York office and report to Footballco CEO, Juan Delgado.

Wagenheim will remain at BDG, where he currently serves as president and chief revenue officer, until the end of the year.

Wagenheim’s arrival at Footballco marks a significant milestone for the company, signalling a major expansion into the U.S. market and solidifying the company’s position as the world’s leading football media destination.

Footballco, which is majority owned by the U.S. private equity firm TPG, already has a significant audience in the U.S., reaching more than 30 million fans each month predominantly through its global football brand, GOAL and presence on social media that reaches 660m.

Wagenheim’s charge is to revolutionize how American fans engage with the sport and leverage Footballco’s global position as the definitive leader in football coverage to accelerate revenue and audience growth in the U.S. market.

Wagenheim has spent more than 25 years working in executive leadership positions for some of the world’s most notable media brands, including Maxim, Conde Nast Traveler, Vanity Fair, and Teen Vogue.

At BDG, he has led the company’s commercial team since 2016, and has since significantly grown revenue and diversified the business. He has also helped lead the company’s organisational and go-to-market strategies, operations and M&A efforts, having acquired more than a dozen media properties since 2017, including NYLON, The Zoe Report, Elite Daily and the parenting portfolio, Some Spider.  

Wagenheim said: “There is tremendous upside opportunity for football in the U.S., especially with the growing popularity of MLS and the road to the FIFA World Cup hosted across the U.S, Mexico and Canada in 2026. This is a critical inflection point for the company and sport. I’m thrilled to join Juan Delgado and the Footballco global team to help fuel that expansion in this important market.”

Delgado said: “We are thrilled to have such an experienced executive join our growing US business, as we scale up to 2026. Jason’s experience in women’s lifestyle publishing comes at a time when the sport and our business are seeing tremendous opportunity post-Women’s World Cup and more fan overlap with fashion, lifestyle, music and culture-led publishing”

As well as GOAL, Footballco is home to women’s football brand INDIVISA, the GenZ-targeted brand NXGN and the football lifestyle and print publication, MUNDIAL, all of which have significant growth opportunities in the U.S. beyond its flagship GOAL brand.

The company also publishes Spox (Germany), Voetbalzone (Netherlands), Calciomercato (Italy), and the most popular football media brand in the Middle East, Kooora.