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The 2018 SportBusiness International global rankings have named the FIFA Master International MA in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport as Europe’s No.1 ranked Postgraduate Sport Management course for a record sixth time. The FIFA Master is now the first and only course to receive this top award on six separate occasions, with previous No.1 European rankings in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017.

This unprecedented achievement now firmly establishes the FIFA Master as one of the most respected in international sport business education.

Responding to the 2018 ranking announcement, CIES Director and IOC Executive Committee Member, Professor Denis Oswald expressed his pride in the latest ranking results. “This is a wonderful achievement,” he said.  “I am delighted that the hard work and dedication of the FIFA Master Scientific Committee, Co-ordination teams in Leicester, Milan and Neuchâtel, and our graduates now working in international sport has once again been recognised with this No.1 in Europe ranking."
“To be named as the top course in Europe for an unprecedented sixth time this year is truly excellent news for everybody involved with the FIFA Master,” he added.

CIES General Secretary, Vincent Schatzmann, said “To be named as the leading sports management programme in Europe for the sixth time is a great achievement. Firstly, I would like to thank FIFA without whom it would not be possible to deliver this course. But most importantly, I would like to congratulate the successes of our alumni who are now working for so many different sporting organisations around the world. They have all helped to make the FIFA Master such a global leader in sports business education."

Factors such as student satisfaction, employment six months after graduation, domestic / international student ratios, class gender ratios and graduation salary were all measured by the latest 2018 SportBusiness International survey, with the FIFA Master and our graduates once again named overall as the best in Europe.

Speaking about their experience on the award winning FIFA Master, 2012 graduate and now Project Officer in the FIFA President’s Office, Mr Federico Raviglione said, “Although I already had some work experience in the world of sport, I knew I still lacked some sport-specific knowledge. The FIFA Master was the perfect choice in order to bridge that gap”.  Asian Football Confederation Legal Counsel and 2016 edition graduate Ms. Namrata Chatterjee went on to say; “The FIFA Master connected me to alumni from all across the globe who have always been very approachable. Even when I first joined the AFC, the head of my unit at the time was a FIFA Master alumnus who gave me invaluable guidance and our common background made working together much easier.”

Ms Anya Alderslade who is now a Commercial & Marketing Executive at European Professional Club Rugby and who graduated in 2015 explained: “It is difficult to pinpoint a particular aspect of the course that has helped me more than any other. Each of the three complementary modules gave me a fantastic overview of the sporting sphere and insight into its numerous interconnected parts. The Master pulls together people from all corners of the world and the relations with your peers and the cultural depth that is offered is something that I think is really unique and special."

For everybody associated with the FIFA Master, this sixth No.1 in Europe award is a time to reflect on and celebrate such an important milestone. Congratulations!

About the SportBusiness International Rankings:

The rankings, now in their seventh 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 full article on Sportbusiness.com about the ranking please click here