Photo: AFL.com.au

Three-time Olympian Nicole Livingstone has been appointed the AFL's new head of women's football.

Livingstone, who represented Australia in swimming in three Olympics, has worked as a commentator, presenter and sports administrator since retiring in 1996.

She will begin work with the AFL on December 4 and will be tasked with growing and managing the AFLW competition and female football participation.

She is currently working in roles with the Australian Olympic Committee and VicHealth, which she will resign from and is on the board of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame and is a director of Swimming Australia.

"I'm excited about being involved in a female sport from a participation point-of-view and a high performance point-of-view that is clearly going places," Livingstone said.

"To have national plans so the girls and their parents know where they're going and how they get there is really important.

"When we're comparing to the men's AFL, it's been around for over 100 years, and we've been around for one year, so let's dream that anything's possible and that's what we want the girls to do.

"I completely understand being a semi-professional athlete where you are completely professional in heart, mind, training and commitment, but the compensation isn't there yet, so that's one of the big challenges over the next little while. 

"We can dream that we can have the girls one day, fully professional."

The 2018 AFL Women's competition begins on Friday, February 2, with Carlton hosting Collingwood at Ikon Park.