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A sports management course which attracts students from all over the world has been named the best of its kind in Europe for an unprecedented seventh year running.
The FIFA Master International MA in Management, Law and Humanities, co-ordinated by the Centre International d’Etude du Sport (CIES) in Switzerland, was also placed third in the world rankings of best-performing postgraduate sports management courses, rated annually by industry leader SportBusiness.

The FIFA Master, which is organised by CIES in partnership with De Montfort University (United Kingdom), SDA Bocconi School of Management (Italy) and the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland) has once again set new academic standards in sport business education as the first and only Postgraduate Sport Management course to receive the top ranking award a record seven times. The latest success follows previous No.1 in Europe rankings for the course in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018. The FIFA Master, which brings together students from around the world on a unique academic journey each year, finished top of over 500 courses assessed worldwide by the independent global survey.

Responding to the 2019 ranking announcement, CIES Director and IOC Executive Committee Member, Professor Denis Oswald said, “To be ranked as Europe’s No.1 course for an unprecedented seventh time is a welcome independent endorsement of the quality of the FIFA Master programme. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank FIFA, without whom it would not have been possible to deliver such a complex Postgraduate course over the past 19 years”.

“This is very good news of which we should all feel proud. Putting education at the forefront of what we do is one of our organisation’s key pledges, and the unquestionable success of the FIFA Master reflects this commitment,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino - himself a former CIES General Secretary - echoing the comments of FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura: “I am delighted to receive the continuous ratification that the FIFA Master is doing an elite job in preparing students from around the world to join the sports business market. We know it from experience: from working together with over 40 graduates in the FIFA administration.”

CIES General Secretary, Mr Vincent Schatzmann, added, “This is an outstanding achievement. With so many new courses entering the sector, for the FIFA Master to consolidate its position as the No.1 course in Europe and the No.3 ranked course in the world behind North American based programmes is good news for everybody involved with the Master. Our dedicated academic and co-ordination teams in Leicester, Milan and Neuchâtel work hard to ensure our course content is updated each year and this result confirms that the FIFA Master is firmly established as one of the most respected sport management courses in the world today”.

The FIFA Master takes carefully selected students on a unique academic journey with modules undertaken in the United Kingdom, Italy and Switzerland. The intensive course structure provides candidates with the opportunity to study in detail key sport themes such as traditions and ethics, the birth of modern sport, professional sport in context, the internationalisation of sport, equality and inclusion, women’s sport, human rights, governance, leadership, strategic planning, marketing, finance, digital analytics, event management, corporate social responsibility, the legal status of the sports person, liabilities and dispute resolution. Academic sessions are then supported by leading industry guest speakers and a comprehensive field visit programme to some of the biggest names in world sport, such as Fédération Internationale de Football association (FIFA), International Olympic Committee (IOC), Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the All England Lawn Tennis Club in Wimbledon, Manchester City FC, Leicester City FC, Juventus FC, Inter Milan, and many more.

2010 FIFA Master graduate Sarah Crumbach, who is now Youth Olympic Games Services Manager at the IOC said, “The FIFA Master gave me that deeper understanding. Being able to meet so many different professionals from diverse backgrounds, whether it was my classmates, lecturers or experts during our field visits, was a great benefit to me. These contacts and networks still help me today”.

Dr. Francisco Porras Lima, who graduated from the Master in 2008 and is now Director of Governance & Institutional Affairs at the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) added, “The FIFA Master offers a robust, complex and well defined curriculum covering all significant areas of sport. The programme is taught by experienced professors and key speakers that are invited to share with the students their first hand and practical in-depth knowledge of sport. The different field visits to prestigious institutions are a perfect complement to the theoretical parts of the course.”

2012 FIFA Master graduate and now Project Officer in the FIFA President’s Office, Federico Raviglione, went on to offer advice to candidates considering applying to future editions of the FIFA Master. He said, “Firstly, and most importantly, enjoy the journey and make the most out of it. It is a unique and life-changing experience, which cannot be compared to any other academic course. You need to grasp every single moment of it because it goes by so quickly. Be proactive and use the unique experience of the FIFA Master to take you to where you want to be in world sport!”

We are extremely fortunate to attract such high quality candidates to the FIFA Master and everybody on the course team takes great pride in the continued success of FIFA Master alumni now working in various positions and in all sports around the world. This latest ranking success is recognition of the contribution and impact FIFA Master graduates are continuously making to sport and its global development.

Congratulations to everybody connected to the FIFA Master on this latest award!

About the SportBusiness International Rankings:

The rankings, now in their eighth year, attract entries from postgraduate sports management courses from around the world. Only postgraduate-level courses that are 100% related to the business and administration of sport, and have been running for at least three consecutive years, are considered.

To read the article on Sportbusiness.com about the announcement of the ranking please click here (please note that the full ranking will be released next week): https://www.sportbusiness.com/news/university-of-massachusetts-amherst-t...