Since 2010, with a view to encouraging original high-quality research and to lending new dynamics to the FIFA/CIES International University Network, CIES has awarded an annual Prize for the best group project presented in the framework of the FIFA/CIES Programme in Sport Management.

The objective of the Prize is to promote innovative work, to disseminate it within the Network and to develop interaction/exchange between Network students and FIFA Master students.

The Prize, which may be modified by CIES each year, consists of a visit to CIES headquarters (Neuchâtel) and to FIFA headquarters (Home of FIFA, Zurich) for all the members of the winning group. In the framework of these visits, the prize winners will be invited to present their work in English to the FIFA Master students.

Selection of group projects
The selection process consists of two steps :

First step
Each partner university, with the CIES local coordinator (link to Our Team to be inserted) and CIES, preselects the best group project for the academic year taken into account.

Second step
An  international Jury, consisting of FIFA representatives, representatives of the academic world and sport professionals, examines all the group projects preselected by the partner universities and chooses the winning project based on the following criteria :

  • relevance of the topic for sport at continental, national, regional and local level,
  • originality of the topic with respect to already existing studies/work,
  • originality, creativity and independent thinking in analysing problems, proposing solutions to problems, selection and discussion of material used,
  • quality of analyses (details, relevance, logic, consistency of conclusions),
  • relevance of the methods used,
  • relevance of the sources used,
  • use of the FIFA/CIES Programme in Sport Management course content,
  • quality of conclusions and/or recommendations (clarity, relevance, feasibility, consistency with analyses),
  • quality of the report (clarity, format, legibility).

Winning Projects

2011 Sonia Herrero Calvo ; Isabel Garcia Blanco. Strengthening the links between football clubs in the Spanish first division and their supporters. Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, Spain.

Special price 2011 Saafin Ayat ; Pedersawi Yousef ; Hussein Ali ; Nael Deguera. How recycled tyres could be used as materials for sport facilities construction. Birzeit University in Ramallah, Palestine.

2010 María Teresita Axmann ; Laura Macchiotti ; Evangelina Tosello.
A new opportunity: building resilience through sport. Universidad Católica Argentina, 2010 (Download presentation) (complete report available upon request)