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The Belgian Diederik Dewaele, 38, is another “FIFA Master” alumnus with a notable career in sports – football administration, more specifically. Graduated from the 5th edition of our globally acclaimed postgraduate programme in 2005, he soon joined the governing body of football in Europe, UEFA. He tells us how his career developed since then: “Two days after the graduation ceremony, I was contacted by UEFA. They offered me a two-month contract to help the Professional Football Services Unit with a project on player agents. I stayed for three years… The last two days of my stay at UEFA, I helped organising the first European Club Association (ECA) General Assembly. The new General Secretary of ECA, who was still working at UEFA at that time, asked me to join him and start up the ECA Administration. Eight years later, 13 people work for ECA, which now represents the interests of 220 clubs from 53 European Associations”.

Thankfully for Diederik, his job at ECA is quite a diverse one. “Don’t ask me to do the same kind of work every day”, he pleas. “I travel a lot, which I like. My to-do list normally contains of a mixture of internal office-related issues, event or meeting preparation, membership requests and background work on some key dossiers on the ECA table”, Diederik explains.

When asked about what he enjoys the most about his job, he couldn’t just pick one thing: “I enjoy the personal contact with our members, both from a professional and human perspective. I also enjoy studying certain technical dossiers, in particular competition dossiers. Moreover, we have a very good atmosphere at the office; there is nothing better than working with nice and competent colleagues. Did I say that another two are also FIFA Master alumni?”. Here’s more from the interview with Diederik Dewaele.

FMA: Quarterly What is the role of ECA in world football?

Diederik Dewaele: ECA’s role is to voice the opinion of the European clubs both on European and on global level, on topics such as the international match calendar, the format of the UEFA club competitions, the insurance of national team players or the share for clubs in the benefits from the FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro tournaments. We also focus on sharing contacts and best practices amongst its Member Clubs.

 FMAQ: What are the main challenges for ECA – and what are the main challenges for Football?

 DD: The main challenge not only for ECA, but for all main football stakeholders is to find a balance amongst its members. Furthermore, despite recent improvements in the recent past, the involvement of clubs in the governance system of national associations or some international federations is still not at an acceptable level. In many national associations decisions on professional football are still taken mainly by representatives of amateur football. Finally, match fixing remains a big concern for football, unfortunately.

 FMAQ: How important was the FIFA Master in your career?

DD: It was very important indeed, as it allowed me to get the contacts on an international level – both with my fellow classmates and with specialists in the field who we met during the programme. In addition, the experience of living and working together with 30 passionate people from all over theworld was very important for my personal development.

FMAQ: Do you keep in touch with your classmates, or alumni from other years?

DD: I still meet classmates and other alumni both on a personal and on a professional level. I try to be as available as possible for alumni who have questions on ECA or my job in particular, or who would like to know my experiences in getting into the world of football.

FMAQ: What are your fondest memories of the Master?

DD: We sometimes make the joke that the best moment of the Master was the pre-sessional English course - we were nine and had a lot of fun even before the real Master started - but there are many nice memories: from playing football at the Mandela Park in Leicester to the site visits. One of the funniest moments during the Master was when, at the end of the official dinner in a fancy restaurant in Zurich with FIFA officials, my classmate Martin Horn challenged Walter Gagg (then the technical Director of FIFA) to exchange shirts… and Gagg accepted the challenge - so both got half naked in the middle of the restaurant.

FMAQ: When you are hiring someone, what are the main traits you look for in a candidate?

DD: I try to look beyond the skills and knowledge of the candidate. I am interested in his or her personality, social skills and try to feel how he or she would fit into the group. You want to know if that’s a good person to work with. Furthermore, language skills are important, as we want to be as accessible as possible to our members.

SHORT PROFILE

Diederik Guy André Hedwig Dewaele, Belgian

Head of Administration at the European Club Association  

Lives with: Céline Gauderon; father of Nils Aymeric, 5 months-old

Favourite sport: Football, skiing, volleyball

Favourite team: KSV Roeselare (Belgian second Division) – you always have to support your home team!

Favourite sport’s personality: I don’t have sporting heroes, but I have a lot of respect for certain athletes who are real gentlemen. If I have to pick one, I’d say Gianluigi Buffon