Director, European Football Partnerships

StubHub is evolving how tickets reach fans through its Open Distribution Partnerships strategy — enabling rights holders to distribute tickets directly into the world’s largest secondary ticketing marketplaces, StubHub and Viagogo, without competing as a primary ticketing provider.

Open Distribution Partnerships allow clubs, leagues, and event organizers to retain control over pricing, inventory strategy, and existing primary ticketing relationships, while unlocking incremental global demand across more than 80 million monthly buyers worldwide. 

The Open Distribution Partnerships team works closely with clubs, leagues, federations, agencies, and venues to design compliant, scalable distribution models that complement existing ticketing contracts and maximize commercial reach.

We are hiring a Director of European Football Partnerships to lead StubHub’s Open Distribution Partnerships strategy across professional football clubs, leagues, federations, and major venues throughout Europe.

This role is responsible for securing direct distribution access to ticket inventory across domestic leagues, continental competitions, and international fixtures. The Director will own the full partnership lifecycle — from target identification and relationship development through negotiation, contracting, and onboarding.

This is a relationship-driven, field-oriented role requiring deep knowledge of European football, ticketing structures, and commercial rights. The position involves frequent travel to matches, club offices, league meetings, and industry events and plays a critical role in expanding StubHub’s authorized access to football inventory across Europe

Location: Switzerland

• →Lead business development and partnership efforts with European football clubs, leagues, federations, agencies, and venue operators.
• →Own the full deal cycle: prospecting, pitching, structuring, negotiation, contracting, and onboarding of Open Distribution partnerships.
• →Build and maintain senior-level relationships with club executives, commercial directors, ticketing leads, league officials, and rights holders.
• →Represent StubHub at matches, club meetings, league events, and industry conferences throughout Europe.
• →Partner cross-functionally with legal, operations, product, marketing, and compliance teams to activate and scale Open Distribution agreements.
• →Navigate and advise on varied ticketing and distribution models, including primary ticketing exclusivity, open distribution frameworks, resale regulations, and hospitality structures.
• →Monitor league policies, federation regulations, and market dynamics to adapt partnership strategy in real time.
• →Build, manage, and report on a robust European football pipeline, tracking deal progress, partner performance, and revenue impact.

• →10+ years of experience in ticketing, partnerships, business development, or commercial roles within sports, live events, or adjacent industries.
• →Deep understanding of European football ecosystems, including club ownership models, league systems, federation governance, and cross-border competitions.
• →Demonstrated experience working across multiple ticketing and distribution models (primary, secondary, hybrid, hospitality, resale).
• →An established network of relationships with football clubs, leagues, agencies, rights holders, and venues across Europe.
• →Proven ability to negotiate and close complex, high-value commercial partnerships.
• →Fluent in English; additional European languages strongly preferred.
• →Willingness to travel extensively (up to 50%) with a flexible schedule aligned to match calendars and partner needs.
• →Highly autonomous, strategic, and execution-oriented, with strong stakeholder management skills