Losing a much publicised bid for the 2022 World Cup was always going to be tough for Frank Lowy but after seeing almost $50 million of public money going down the drain to secure a solitary vote, many wondered how the shopping mall magnate would recover, or whether he might just call it quits.

Lowy could certainly have rested on his laurels. He was installed as Football Federation Australia (FFA) chief in 2003 after the sport was dramatically shaken up by the Crawford Report and has revitalised the code since the government instigated inquiry.

While it would be a herculean task to list all the changes Lowy has brought to football ‘down under’, both positive and negative, a number of achievements deserve special mention.

Although he cannot be directly credited with the national team’s form, Lowy certainly laid the stable foundations needed for two successive visits to the World Cup. The Socceroos punched above their weight in 2006 and 2010, and now look towards Brazil with earnest.

The businessman was also instrumental in Australia’s alignment with Asia; Lowy was a driving force in the FFA’s move from the Oceania region to the Asian Football Confederacy. The switch has had untold benefits for the sport – the Socceroos and Matildas now have an easier route to major tournaments, more opportunities exist for the junior national sides, and A-League clubs are able to participate in the Asian Champions League.

Lowy ended ‘old soccer’ and introduced an era of ‘new football’. While this move has raised eyebrows and removed the ethnic element of clubs that were once the heartbeat of Australian football, it has had benefits. The move enabled Lowy to commence major reforms, where he previously would have been stalled by political infighting.

Football is now finally competing against the traditional powerhouses of Rugby League, Union and AFL in Australia. These sports still have significantly more support at the professional level, but football is certainly moving in the right direction and the round ball game has the largest numbers in regards youth participation.

But that’s not to say the FFA figurehead hasn’t courted or caused controversy in his time.

The Australian national public broadcaster, the ABC, raised a number of concerns about the World Cup bid in its award winning Four Corners program. The investigative show raised questions over the use of taxpayers’ funds, engaging consultants with shady pasts to complete ethically dubious work, and the use of a government aid agency to support the bid.

As the program’s website states, ‘the Federal Government is taking a long, hard look at the governance and structure of football, and football fans and clubs are asking, can football survive in its present form, led by its current team of administrators?

Furthermore, the A-League faltered last season and although it seems little more than a small blip, critics have suggested Lowy and the FFA neglected their domestic competition while focusing on the World Cup bid.

Lowy continues to fight on however, and has a long term vision for Australian football. At the Annual General Meeting on Monday, CEO Ben Buckley released the FFA’s 2011-15 Strategic Plan, which aims to further the development of the code at the international, national and grass-roots level.

First on the list was continued improvement from the national teams, with plans for Australia to become a ‘top 10’ football nation. Buckley also outlined the FFA’s vision to foster the A-League into a stable and exciting competition, increase association with grass-roots football, and host a successful 2015 Asian Cup.

Buckley and Lowy both have hard work ahead if they are to fulfil these strategic goals, and there are many cynics who doubt the FFA’s ability to deliver such outcomes. Tough times are certainly ahead, and Lowy was in no denial when speaking at the AGM.

“The scale and breadth of FFA’s undertaking is huge. On a per capita basis football must do more, for more people, with fewer resources than other mainstream Australian sports.”

If anyone can achieve such a task, it is Lowy. He may be getting older, and he may have made mistakes in the past, but there is no doubting Lowy’s contributions to the game and his aptitude for achieving future change.

When the businessman’s tenure as the head of Australian football is up in 2015, he will be judged not on his achievements in the last 9 years, but his fulfilment of the goals set out on Monday.

You would be a brave person to bet against him.