CIES News

CIES on Bloomberg media!!!

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:07:00 +0100

Topic:Soccer Teams Speculate More on Player Transfers, FIFA-Backed Group Finds.

This article can be accessed for free via the Blommberg website at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-23/soccer-teams-speculate-more-on-player-transfers-fifa-backed-group-finds.html

Clubs’ economic difficulties and speculation in the transfer market go hand in hand

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:18:00 +0100

The fourth edition of the CIES Football Observatory's Demographic Study is now available.

It is an annual publication edited since 2009 destined for anyone who wishes to acquire a better understanding of the European football players’ labour market. The Study presents the dynamics at work in 33 top division leagues of UEFA member associations (500 clubs, 12,410 players). Market trends are first measured at European level and then analysed according to national championships. An excerpt can be accessed for free via the CIES Football Observatory website at www.eurofootplayers.org. Since 2008, European clubs have never recruited as many new players as for the current season (10 signings per team on average, + 16.6% compared to 2009). This shows that in the context of economic turmoil, European clubs tend more than ever to adopt short-term policies by speculating on the transfer market instead of setting up sustainable squad management strategies. The increase in the power of third-party ownership throughout Europe will probably further reinforce this trend. From this perspective, the coming into force of UEFA’s financial fair-play rules is absolutely necessary to push clubs to behave in a more responsible manner. At league level, a key insight of our Study is the rapid changes occurring in the Russian top division championship, whose clubs are challenging more than ever those in the five major European championships. Since 2009, the percentage of active internationals in Russia has progressed by 17%, from 11.6 to 28.6%. Footballers having played for a national A-team in 2011 represent a greater proportion of players in Russia than in France (25.8%), Italy (25.1%) and Spain (23.0%). Only levels in England (41.2%) and Germany (33.3%) are still higher than in Russia. Other exclusive findings may be downloaded here: http://www.eurofootplayers.org/-Publications- The Study is on sale at http://shop.cies.ch/int_en/edition-cies.html The CIES Football Observatory's team is at your disposal for any additional information.

FIFA Master 13th Edition - application deadline over!

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:29:00 +0100

The application for the 13th Edition (2012-2013) of the FIFA Master has now passed. Submitted applications will be reviewed by the Scientific Committee. The selection process will take around 3-4 months. Organised by the International Centre for Sport Studies (CIES) in partnership with three universities, De Montfort University in Leicester (England), SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan (Italy) and the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland), the FIFA Master in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport was created to promote management education within the sports world. With over 90% of the around 300 FIFA Master graduates working in the sports industry the impact of the FIFA Master reaches across all continents and nations, with alumni working in organisations as diverse as, but not limited to, the IOC, UEFA, Liverpool FC , adidas, Asian Football Confederation (AFC), International Basketball Federation (FIBA), Major League Soccer (MLS), London 2012, FIFA and the Sauber Formula 1 team. The online application form for the 14th edition (2013-2014) of the FIFA Master will be available as of September 2012.

2012 FIFA/CIES network prize and special prize awarded to students from Spain and Palestine

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:48:00 +0100

During a meeting held at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich on 13 January 2012, an international jury consisting of 6 members - Christoph Schmidt (FIFA), Harold Mayne-Nicholls (Chile), Jinxian Dong (China), Dino Ruta (Italia), Pierre Lanfranchi (CIES) and Vincent Schatzmann (CIES) – met to review all of the projects submitted for the 2012 FIFA/CIES International University Network Prize.

After careful consideration, the jury members crowned the project presented by Sonia Calvo Herrero and Isabel García Blanco (University King Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid, Spain) on the subject of enumerating and developing tools to reinforce the links between Spanish professional football clubs and their supporters (“Cómo potenciar la relación entre el club de fútbol profesional y su afición?”) as the winning project. The jury was particularly impressed with the overall academic quality of the work. In addition, the jury decided to give a Special Prize to the work of Ayat Saafin, Yousef Pedersawi, Nael Deguera et Hussein Al-Sheikh (Birzeit University, Ramallah, Palestine) for their project “Recycling of used tyres to create basic materials for the construction of sports facilities” (“Recycling for Sports”) in recognition of its innovative spirit and its feasibility. The jury noted the high standard of all projects received this year and congratulated all of the groups who participated in the competition. The International University Network Prize was created to acknowledge the best group project developed within the FIFA/CIES Programme in sport management. The prize-winners will now have the opportunity to travel to Switzerland and visit FIFA’s “House of Football”, the CIES headquarters in Neuchâtel and to present their work to the FIFA Master students. FIFA and the CIES wish to congratulate Sonia, Isabel, Ayat, Yousef, Nael and Hussein for their outstanding work. We look forward to welcoming you all to Switzerland soon!

Spain: Miguel Cardenal appointed as Secretary of State for Sports

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:42:00 +0100

Miguel Cardenal, who is Director of the Chair in sports law at the University King Juan Carlos, has been appointed President of the Superior Council of Sports and Secretary of State for Sport by the Spanish Council of Ministers. Dr. Cardenal is also co-organizer of the FIFA/CIES Programme in Sports Management at the University King Juan Carlos. CIES and all the members of the FIFA/CIES International University Network congratulate Miguel and wish him every success in his new responsibilities.

BBC Radio 4 – Sport and the British

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:43:00 +0100

On the 30^th January 2012 the CIES academic partners at the International Centre for Sports History and Culture (ICSHC) at De Montfort University will be launching a major new historical series in partnership with BBC Radio 4 on the history of British sport. Sports historians from the ICSHC have helped the BBC to create the series.

“Sport and the British” will be broadcast as a flagship historical series in 2012 as part of BBC Radio 4’s Olympic schedule and commitment to bringing new forms of history to the public.

Professor Richard Holt, who is also a CIES/FIFA Master Co-Scientific Director said: “We hope to be able to bring much of the excellent work that has been done on the history of sport in Britain in the last generation to a far bigger audience than ever before. Over seven hours of radio time in the prime outlet for serious public discussion in Britain will give a new prominence to the history of sport and maximise its public impact.”

The 30 episode series will be broadcast each weekday for six weeks from the end of January until March. It will look at the vital and unique role that sport has played, and continues to play, in British national life. Themes explored in the series will include the origins of modern sport, the power of sport to unite a nation, the global diffusion of British sport, the rise of women in the world of sport and the relationship between class, race and sport.”

The BBC’s Clare Balding said, “I’m intrigued and fascinated by how this great triviality is so central to our culture. With the help of the academic team at the International Centre for Sports History and Culture at De Montfort University, we are going to discover how and why Great Britain defined sport and sport defined Great Britain.”

In the first episode Clare will look at the birth of the modern Olympic movement by the French nobleman, Pierre de Coubertin, who had been inspired to re-kindle the Olympic flame following a visit to Rugby School. What lessons can be drawn from the games since 1896 and what can they tell us as we approach the London 2012 Games?

The BBC Radio 4 series has been made in partnership with the ICSHC, lead by Prof. Tony Collins, Prof. Richard Holt and Prof. Emeritus Tony Mason. The series is produced by BBC Birmingham by Garth Brameld, Sara Conkey and Lucy Lunt.

For more information please visit:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/sport-and-the-british.html

Palestine: launch of the third edition of the FIFA/CIES Programme

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:50:00 +0100

Birzeit University, a CIES partner since 2009, has officially launched the third edition of the FIFA/CIES Programme in Sport Management, with an application deadline set for January 20, 2012.

The FIFA/CIES Programme in Sport Management is a great success in Palestine. It allows people from various professional and sporting horizons to familiarise themselves with modern management tools in key areas such as marketing, law, management, sponsoring, communication, finance and event management. It also offers the opportunity to attend lectures given by international FIFA/CIES experts. Since 2004, over 1,000 students have graduated from the FIFA/CIES Programme offered through 14 universities in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Egypt, Senegal, South Africa, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Ukraine and Venezuela. In Palestine, it is the responsibility of Birzeit University to adapt the content of the Programme to the realities and needs of local sports organisations. Alumni of the first two editions, including Ibrahim Rabayaa, talked about their willingness to improve the way sport is managed locally: “The classes had a great impact on me and on the other participants (...). It will help us to institutionalise sport in Palestine and to establish better professional practices in its management.” Application deadline: 20 January 2012

For further information, please contact:

Dina Masaeid @: cceform@birzeit.edu Tel: 02-2982164 Cell phone: 0599-474 096

Big-5 league predictions: mid-season assessment

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 16:04:00 +0100

For the second year running, the CIES Football Observatory has teamed up with RunningBall to predict the outcome of the five major European championships. At the start of the season, stars were attributed to teams according to the profile of their players in terms of both club and international experience, as well as stability. Clubs with three stars had a strong enough squad to win the title, those with two could claim a European place, while those with one could only avoid relegation. It is now time for an initial assessment.

All five clubs currently at the top of their league are three-star teams. Among the champions forecasted by our statistical model, Bayern Munich and Paris St-Germain are at the top of the ranking, Barcelona is second, while Chelsea FC and Inter Milan are only fourth and fifth. In both cases, the frequent manager changes are symptomatic of the lack of a clear strategic vision and have had a negative impact on results. The ageing of several key players may also explain the current decrease in performance.

If the 2011/12 season were to end today, our model would have predicted 10 out of 15 teams on the podium (two out of three in each league). All clubs in the top three of their championship tables have at least two stars. Among teams that we would have expected to be on the podium, only Bayer Leverkusen and Málaga CF are below fifth position (6th). Borussia Mönchengladbach and Levante UD are the only one-star clubs close to the three first places. These clubs are the true surprises of the first part of the season.

For more information go to our website: www.eurofootplayers.org

About the CIES Football Observatory

The CIES Football Observatory was set up in 2005 under the name of the Professional Football Players Observatory (PFPO). Since 2011, it is one of the cornerstones of the vast CIES Observatory project, dedicated to the statistical analysis of sport in all its diversity. As well as the realisation of two annual reports, the CIES Football Observatory regularly carries out mandates for various stakeholders of the football industry. Methodological rigor coupled with a deep knowledge of football guarantees high quality analyses at competitive rates. More information at www.eurofootplayers.org

9th January 2012, CIES at the "3ème conférence Internationale du jeune footballeur africain" in Lausanne

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:40:00 +0100

Raffaele Poli, Head of CIES Football Observatory will animate a debate (in French) about: "Quelle place pour l’Afrique dans le football globalisé du 21ème siècle ?"

Venezuela: conference of the Director of the National Sports Institute

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:51:00 +0100

The students of the first and second editions of the UNIMET/FIFA/CIES Programme recently had the opportunity to attend a conference on the new sports bill in Venezuela, organised by the Universidad Metropolitana de Caracas.

On the initiative of GZ Gerencia Deportiva Internacional, the Programme sponsor, and following an invitation from the Minister of Sports, Dr Miguel Bermudez, Director-General of the National Sports Institute and co-author of the new law, explained the full details of the bill. He also addressed the following topics: promotion and mass dissemination of sport, advantages of introducing social security for athletes, elections within sports organisations and sponsorship, insofar as Venezuelan companies are required to contribute to financing sport to the amount of 1% of their annual profit. Following his presentation, students were able to ask Miguel Bermudez many questions, thereby showing their interest in the relations between sport and government authorities.