From social work to the soccer pitch

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Starting a career in social work and ending up on the soccer pitch as part of the single largest and most widely viewed sporting event on the planet isn’t a typical professional path. 

But it’s the one Kathy Mah took. She’s the executive director of administration and the director of legal for the FIFA World Cup 26 in Canada. She leads all Canadian legal and compliance matters and oversees human resources, the workforce, and office operations.

Before moving into law, Mah trained as a social worker, which deeply informs how she leads, given her dual mandate. In particular, she says social work really helped develop her emotional intelligence. 

“I think I have a comfort with people and issues … that other lawyers don’t always have. What’s truly urgent in a purely corporate environment, and what’s truly urgent from a personal welfare perspective, are very different models,” Mah says. 

“And I’ve been part of both.”  

She started her legal career at Stikeman Elliott before moving in-house to Aramark for 13 years, where she became head of legal for Canada. 

She was on vacation in France when the FIFA job posting popped up in her LinkedIn feed.  

“I must confess, I don’t always read these job postings, but for whatever reason, this posting came up, and I read it.”  

As Mah scanned the list of what FIFA was looking for, she realized she checked all the boxes, even for some of the unique job requirements. In addition to working on an international legal team and spending time in management, she had stadium experience. 

Having been raised in Vancouver before living in Toronto for 20-plus years, she also had a connection to both Canadian host cities. So, although she wasn’t job hunting, she says this position spoke to her.

“It’s a one-in-a-million opportunity.”   

Mah’s a rare candidate, too, who actually got the job after applying through LinkedIn.  

“I didn't know a single person (at FIFA). Truly, this is just little Kathy growing up in Vancouver, a former social worker, trying her best,” she says. 

“I think people are shocked that it's still possible to get a job and not have some huge connection or backstory.” 

Mah has been in her role with FIFA since January 2024 and is primed for the tournament kick-off in Toronto on June 12. Mexico hosted the first official match on June 11. What’s set to happen on the pitch is the result of serious heavy lifting and coordination behind the scenes. 

“This tournament is the biggest World Cup in FIFA history,” she says. 

“It’s three host countries, plus FIFA itself is based out of Zurich. It’s really almost four legal teams that we need to collaborate with at all times.”  

In addition to her responsibility for all legal and compliance matters in Canada, Mah must ensure that every operational decision complies with the laws in the 16 host cities where games will be played — two in Canada, three in Mexico, and 11 in the United States.

“It is not easy. It is not straightforward, but to me it's one of the most interesting projects I've ever worked on, because of the diversity and the breadth of the issues,” she says. 

“Something that might have been a simple decision in a different organization operating in one location is now times 16. We work together truly as one team. That’s not simple either — we’re talking across jurisdictions, across time zones.”  

The Canadian legal team consists of her and three others. One member focuses part-time on brand protection, and another focuses part-time on compliance matters. But by and large, they all address issues as they come in.

“I think it’s important for growth that my team members get exposed to as many interesting new legal issues as possible,” Mah says. 

“FIFA has about 60 functional areas… and we support them all.”   

Her legal team is all women, which “is kind of cool,” but was purely a matter of happenstance. Most of their legal work is done internally, with outside counsel used sparingly.  

“We do use outside counsel on occasion, just like any other entity … but by and large we handle everything in-house. FIFA still has budgets like everybody else,” Mah says.   

One issue that has surprised her with its complexity and general interest is turf. FIFA has specialists who know all there is to know about growing grass, but her team had to learn a lot to handle the legal matters related to the green stuff. 

 “What might be the regulations on grass growing? What can you bring into the country? Now we’re talking about potential agriculture, the staff who might be employed to grow the grass… These novel and interesting issues pop up,” she says.  

“But I kind of love being faced with an issue I’ve never looked at before. I like the challenge of it.”   

Recent debates — including over water bottles at matches — highlight the tension between rights enforcement and fan expectations.

Mah says it drives home the difficulty of trying to find one outcome that makes everyone happy — across 16 different environments — be it fans, operations, functional areas, FIFA policy, or local law. 

“Every decision is a lot more complex and complicated than maybe the outside world may realize,” she says. 

“We do take all decisions really seriously, but it is challenging to make every single stakeholder happy.”    

As the tournament kicks off, Mah has reflected on her role in it all.  

“I think it’s been the most interesting job — no offence to my prior jobs — probably the most diverse job I’ve ever had, and potentially the most diverse job I’ll ever have in the future,” she says. 

“One of my challenges is: where do you go after this?”   

Above all, she’s proudly Canadian and comes back to what hosting this “big moment” means for the country.  

“Our staff here in Canada, in Vancouver and Toronto, are immensely proud. We really feel like this role we have, we’re doing it on behalf of Canada, because we’re representing Canada on the global stage.”  

So what’s she looking forward to most once the competition kicks off here? The anthem playing and having a minute to take it in — assuming she’s not on her phone sorting out a problem. 

“I think for most of us it’ll be the first moment…to see where we came from,” Mah says. 

“We’ve been counting down for a long time, and all of a sudden, we’re here.”