The Fifa World Football Museum in Zurich, Switzerland, has announced the appointment of Marco Fazzone as its new director.

Currently managing director of design and regional art fairs for the MCH Group in Basel, Fazzone has held positions within the culture sector for a number of years, including with Art Basel, the Swiss Institute for Art Research, AOZ Zurich and the Swiss Museum Group.

In its first year of operation, the FIFA museum announced losses of more than CHF30m (US$30.5m, €27.9m, £24.1m), leaving many questioning the future of the project ordered by former Fifa president Sepp Blatter.

Visitor and financial numbers improved in 2017, with museum management refining its financial model and attendance rising. Up 14,000 to 118,000 visitors in 2017, the museum is still operating at a deficit, although one that has been significantly cut. The museum says it expects to improve this further in the coming months.

"Marco Fazzone knows exactly what the museum’s mission is and how he has to exercise it,” said Zvonimir Boban, Fifa’s deputy secretary general, who led the internal task force to find a new director.

"The Fifa World Football Museum should to be a meeting point for dialogue and debate on football and contemporary culture and plays an important role nationally and internationally. The museum is important to Zurich, and makes a lot of people in Zurich happy."