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Craig Foster AM is an Australian human rights advocate, broadcaster and former Socceroos captain whose work rests on a single principle: that human rights and international law apply equally to everyone, without exception, whoever holds power.

His advocacy delivers results. In 2019 he led the international campaign that freed refugee footballer Hakeem al-Araibi from a Thai prison and from extradition to Bahrain, a story told in his book Fighting for Hakeem and the documentary The Defenders. In 2021 he helped around 100 Afghans escape the Taliban, among them members of the Afghan women’s national football team and a group of 15 young women, captured in the award-winning film Die or Die Trying: Escaping the Taliban. With Amnesty International Australia he led #GameOver, the campaign that helped free hundreds of refugees held in Australia’s offshore detention regime, and he was executive producer of the documentary Freedom is Beautiful (2023). He has twice visited the Rohingya refugee camps at Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh to highlight the plight of some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

Equality has been the thread through his working life. As Chair and later CEO of Professional Footballers Australia, he led the push for gender equality for the Matildas and wrote women’s representation into the organisation’s governance; he remains a Trustee. As a Pro Licence coach he won a national championship with the NSW girls’ team and developed many of the players who became the emerging Matildas generation. He is an Ambassador for the Sydney Women’s Fund, which supports disadvantaged women and works to end violence against women, and for the Addison Road Community Organisation in Marrickville, which fights food insecurity. He has been the public face of national anti-racism campaigns and is a long-standing advocate for multiculturalism.

Craig brings a legal education to his advocacy. He holds a Bachelor of Laws, a Master of Sport Management and an Honorary Doctor of Laws, and applies international human rights and humanitarian law to the conduct of governments, institutions and sport’s governing bodies alike. He writes Article 27, a newsletter examining the world, and the powerful, through the lens of football. He serves on the Australia Committee of Human Rights Watch and the Sydney Peace Prize advisory committee, and is a former Co-Chair of the Australian Republic Movement and former member of the Australian Multicultural Council.

His platform was built in football. The 419th Socceroo and 40th Captain, he earned 29 caps for Australia, played for historic Australian clubs, captained Crystal Palace FC in England, and is a member of the Football Australia Hall of Fame. Over a 24-year broadcasting career across SBS, Stan and Nine Network, he has covered men’s and women’s FIFA World Cups and won three Logie Awards.

He is a Member of the Order of Australia for services to multiculturalism, sport and refugees, and was named NSW Australian of the Year in 2023. In 2022 he was named Australian Father of the Year, recognised both as a father of three and as a mentor and “Aussie dad” to many of the young Afghan women he helped evacuate. He has addressed governments, corporations, NGOs and the United Nations on human rights, equality, the power of sport and the responsibilities of power.