CRAIG FOSTER AM
419th Socceroo and 40th Captain. Broadcaster. Human rights advocate.
One standard of human rights, for everyone.
Member of the Order of Australia | NSW Australian of the Year 2023 | Three-time Logie winner | 419th Socceroo and 40th Captain | LLB, HonLLD, Master of Sport Management
Every human, equal
For more than two decades, Craig Foster has used the world’s game to fight for the people the world would rather forget: refugees, political prisoners, women and girls under authoritarian rule, and communities living under occupation and war. His campaigns have freed a footballer from a foreign prison, helped free hundreds of refugees from Australia’s offshore detention, and carried female footballers and young women to safety from the Taliban.
His argument is simple. Every human being is equal, and every system we build, from the law to the economy to sport, must put people at its centre.
Broadcaster, advocate, campaigner, author and filmmaker. Husband and father.
What he stands for
International law for everyone
A law that binds the weak and excuses the strong is not justice. Craig argues for one standard for every state, ally or adversary.
Integrity in sport
Football belongs to the people. Craig campaigns against corruption and sportswashing, and for sport to become a genuine force for human rights.
An independent, peaceful Australia
A republic with its own head of state, an independent foreign policy, and the courage to choose peace, equality and human dignity for all.
A world where everyone can thrive
Public education for every child, an end to poverty, and housing, food and health as rights, not charity.
Campaigns that won
#SaveHakeem
When refugee footballer Hakeem al-Araibi was detained in Bangkok and faced return to Bahrain, Craig led a global campaign that held FIFA and world sport to their own human rights commitments. Hakeem came home.
#GameOver
In 2019, with Amnesty International Australia, Craig launched #GameOver to free the refugees held for more than six years on Manus Island and Nauru. More than 65,000 Australians and many of the nation’s sporting greats joined the campaign, which helped free hundreds of people.
Escaping the Taliban
As Kabul fell in 2021, Craig helped around 100 Afghans reach safety, among them members of the Afghan women’s national football team and 15 young university women who had hidden from the Taliban for days. Their story is told in the award-winning documentary Die or Die Trying.
Standing with Iran’s women footballers
In 2026, as members of Iran’s women’s national team sought protection in Australia, Craig stood with them, called on the Australian Government to support them, and demanded accountability from FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation.
Latest oration: Reclaiming Humanity
Curtin University Centre for Human Rights, 10th Annual Oration, 2026
“Every piece was built by humans. And that is my hope, because what human beings built, humanity can restore.”
From artificial intelligence to international law, inequality, climate and the beautiful game, Craig sets out a new social bargain to put people back at the centre.
Article 27
Craig’s newsletter on power, rules, sport and the world.
It is named for three Article 27s that tell the same story. Article 27 of the UN Charter gives five nations a veto over the world’s peace. Article 27 of the Rome Statute says no leader is above the law. And Article 27 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code was at the centre of the 2026 World Cup’s Balogun scandal. Each promises one standard. Each bends to power.
Article 27 examines human rights and international law through a sporting lens, applied equally to every actor.
Peace requires justice, and justice just got sanctioned
The rules are for other people
Reclaiming Humanity
Invite Craig to speak
Craig speaks to governments, corporations, NGOs and conferences in Australia and around the world on leadership, human rights, integrity and ethics, multiculturalism, anti-racism, multilateralism and the power of sport, so often unrealised.
He has addressed hundreds of audiences, including the United Nations, UN Women, the Australian Parliament, the National Press Club, Commonwealth Bank, NAB, Google Australia, Microsoft Asia Pacific and Sport Australia.