Confirmed: Nigeria’s Ogunbote leaves Burnley for Chelsea

Lola Ogunbote has left Burnley after almost five years to join Chelsea Women as Head of Football Operations & Player Services.

The Nigerian-born Briton announced the move after quietly beginning work with the London club earlier this summer.

Her first three months have already included responsibility for some of Chelsea's most important logistical operations, from an overseas pre-season tour to the club's switch of venues for domestic and European matches.

Ogunbote joins a Chelsea team that lost their Women Super League title last season, finishing third behind champions Manchester City and Arsenal.

Ogunbote as Chelsea's operations chief

Ogunbote's arrival, confirmed by Football Black List, at Chelsea comes after a remarkable spell at Burnley, where she became the club's first-ever Head of Women's Football when she joined in 2021.

Her five-year project in Lancashire reached its target last season when Burnley Women won the FA Women's National League Northern Premier Division title and secured promotion.

Burnley officially confirmed on June 23 that Ogunbote would leave at the end of June, bringing to a close a period in which she helped shape recruitment, player development, performance structures and the wider football operation.

The move to Chelsea gives Ogunbote a new challenge at the top end of the women's game. In her new role, she has already helped deliver Chelsea Women's pre-season tour of Australia and New Zealand, while overseeing the operational switch that has taken WSL home fixtures to Stamford Bridge and Champions League matches to AFC Wimbledon. She has also been involved in delivering matchdays across both competitions.

Ogunbote trained as a UK-qualified lawyer and worked at Goldman Sachs before leaving the corporate world in 2016 to pursue football. She joined Arsenal's Gap Year programme and began building experience across coaching, development and football operations in several countries.

Born in Nigeria and raised in East London after moving to Britain as a baby, Ogunbote has used her experience in football to create opportunities for girls in Africa. She is an executive director of the US-based Goals for Girls and brought its leadership and football programme to Surulere, Lagos, in February 2026. The two-day summit involved 300 female students from 10 schools and combined leadership training with football drills.

Ogunbote was named on the 2024 Football Black List in the administration category alongside figures including Paul Elliott, Mark Esiri and Fleur Robinson.

She joins a WSL that has a growing Nigerian contingent following the move of Super Falcons goalkeeper Comfort Erhabor to Crystal Palace and Rofiat Imuran to Aston Villa.