Juan Mata: "Players and fans have never been heard"

Former Manchester United, Chelsea and Spain midfielder Juan Mata and his business partner Jürgen Griesbeck join Simon Evans to launch Unleash Football, a new project that aims to give players, fans and the wider football community a bigger say in how the game is run.

Unleash Football is part of the C Lab framework. It lets anyone take part by answering questions on an anonymous survey platform. Mata and Griesbeck say the results will be a "mandate" from the game: a first wave of data that can be built on in later waves and shared with governing bodies, candidates in the FIFA presidential election, and the media. The project was unveiled at the World Football Summit.

In this conversation, recorded at the World Football Summit in Madrid, Mata and Griesbeck discuss:

What C Lab is and why collaboration is at its core

Why players and fans are football's most important stakeholders, and why they've been overlooked

Including volunteers, parents and grassroots communities, not just the professional game

How the data will be gathered, analysed and put in front of decision-makers

Mata's own experience as a player in the Premier League and beyond

How this fits with his work at Common Goal and Right to Dream

Whether he'll play again after his time in Australia with Melbourne Victory