Who is Nottingham Forest's new CEO Lina Souloukou?

Lina Souloukou joined Olympiacos in 2016 as a legal advisor to Evangelos Marinakis but, within a little more than two years, she progressed to the role of general manager.

That swift rise to effectively overseeing the running of the biggest club in Greek football — and the relationship of trust she forged with the Greek shipping and media magnate — is one of the reasons she will, in the coming weeks, resume working for him.

This time, her role is expected to involve all three clubs (which could soon become four) in the Marinakis football empire but with a particular focus on Nottingham Forest.

Souloukou has been given the title of Forest chief executive officer but will have an influence across Marinakis’ multi-club model, which includes Forest, Olympiacos and Portuguese side Rio Ave and could soon see Vasco da Gama added. Marinakis has confirmed negotiations are underway to add the Brazilian club.

Souloukou will be among the recruits being hired to help oversee his expanding sporting empire, with former Arsenal sporting director Edu expected to join in the summer in a senior role. Souloukou will start work on January 5.

It will add another piece of the jigsaw, particularly at Forest, who have not had a CEO since the departure of Dane Murphy in January 2023.

But who is Souloukou and what experience will she bring?

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Souloukou, 41, will be known to people behind the scenes at Forest. During her previous role at Olympiacos, she was an occasional visitor to the City Ground. She may be an unknown quantity to supporters, but she built a strong reputation in Athens, flourishing amid the challenging environment of Greek football.

“She would go to Greek Super League meetings on behalf of the club. At the time (between 2018 and 2023), she was the only female senior executive in Greek football. She would hold her own amid that male-dominated environment,” says Aristidis Bouloubassis of the Olympiacos podcast, Gate 7.  “She joined the club as a legal consultant. But by 2018, she had already reached the point where she was heavily involved in the running of the club, including contract negotiations with players. She was the one running a lot of things behind the scenes.”

“Behind the scenes” was the key phrase, with Souloukou not the kind of character to seek publicity.

“When she was at Olympiacos, you would never see her in front of a camera or doing many interviews. She liked to keep a low profile,” adds Bouloubassis. “She was well regarded at Olympiacos, including among the fanbase. But the scale of what she contributed only became more obvious after she left. We noticed when she wasn’t there. After she left, there was a major restructuring (of the staffing) at the club.

“She is an extremely intelligent woman and was very well respected. It says a lot that she is clearly trusted by Marinakis. You suspect that is a big part of why she is returning to work with him.”

Souloukou was a calming influence in Athens. A professional character, who counts Spanish, Italian and English among her languages, Souloukou also has a sporting background, having played international volleyball for Greece at a junior level. Her father was a goalkeeper during his playing days and later became a football coach.

She studied law at university in Madrid before becoming legal director at Panionios, who were in the Greek Super League at the time, and a legal counsel for the Basketball Referees Federation of Greece, the Hellenic Boxing Federation and the Hellenic Federation of Football Coaches. This should be useful at Forest as they are working to progress plans to redevelop the City Ground stadium into a Champions League-quality facility, with a capacity of more than 40,000 — a project that has been hampered by more than its fair share of red tape.

She is expected to work closely with Edu, while ultimately answering to Marinakis. Forest have further bolstered their backroom staff with the appointment of Paul Tyrrell as chief operating officer, following his departure from Aston Villa. He has previously worked in similar roles at Manchester City and Liverpool.

Chief football officer Ross Wilson has overseen the redevelopment of the training ground at the Nigel Doughty Academy and continues to influence recruitment. Pedro Ferreira, the former Benfica chief scout, was also added as head of recruitment in the summer, while the highly regarded George Syrianos was promoted to global technical director at Forest, Olympiacos and Rio Ave, following his influence on recruitment since Forest’s return to the Premier League in 2022.

Miran Pavlin also joined as the club’s international sporting advisor, with his remit to help the club’s global scouting network in their relationships with other clubs around the globe.

While at Olympiacos, Souloukou was appointed as the first diversity representative at the European Club Association (ECA), a membership group for football clubs and a major influence within the sport. Joining the ECA board was a crucial step for Souloukou as her profile rose rapidly. Through the ECA, she met Daniel Friedkin, the Texas-based billionaire and owner of Italian club Roma. She joined the Serie A club as CEO in April 2023.

“Olympiacos is by far the best club in Greece, it’s a great honour being a Greek working there,” Souloukou said in an interview with the Financial Times in March, in which she also said she was keen to explore a “new adventure” outside Greece. “It’s evident that it’s a male-dominated industry but I’ve never really thought of that as a barrier or something that could be a problem.”

Souloukou’s appointment at Roma was further evidence of her standing within the game, but she inherited a messy situation as the third CEO at the club in less than three years. They have also had four head coaches in the space of a calendar year and have been working to secure a new stadium for decades.

Under Jose Mourinho, who was sacked in January 2024, Roma had won the Europa Conference League in 2022 and finished runners-up in the Europa League in 2023 — but the club had found things more challenging in Serie A.

Souloukou was regarded by some at the club as having done good work, including with cost-cutting behind the scenes, and she departed, in September, on good terms with the Friedkin family. However, certain decisions, such as long-serving staff leaving the club, were unpopular with some.

Souloukou also forged strong links with Saudi Arabia, which helped the club raise significant funds in the transfer market. She helped negotiate a front-of-shirt sponsorship deal with Riyadh Season, but there was controversy connected to the deal as, at the time, the city of Rome was competing with Riyadh to host the Expo 2030.  

Outside of the club, she was criticised by the Roma fanbase. Her decision to step down came four days after head coach and club legend Daniele De Rossi was sacked, which was met with a lot of anger by supporters. Souloukou received much of the backlash. Fans showed up at Roma’s Trigoria training ground, demanding to talk to Souloukou. Graffiti also appeared in the city reading, “Where is Lina?”

Souloukou became the focal point of the fans’ frustration, even if Roma club president Friedkin had described her as “an experienced, respected and trusted leader in both football and business”.

It has not been a seamless rise for Souloukou but her work at Olympiacos and the respect she has within the ECA has clearly impressed Marinakis, who will hope she can help the smooth running of his expanding portfolio of clubs.

(Top photo: Silvia Lore/Getty Images)