Joint Higher School of Economics (HSE), International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), and FIFA Master Alumni Association (FMA) Conference held in Moscow

FIFA President Gianni Infantino

The “Sport and Future” international conference successfully took place during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ in Moscow on 29 June 2018. Organised by the Higher School of Economics (HSE) in Moscow, the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES), and the FIFA Master Alumni Association (FMA), with the support of the Football Union of Russia (FUR). The event gathered over 300 representatives from international sporting organisations, leading experts on worldwide sports and the heads of international and national football associations, leagues and clubs.

The plenary session of the conference began with speeches by leading figures from FIFA President Gianni Infantino, CIES President Pierre Cornu, FIFA Master Alumni Association President Giancarlo Dapoto, Dean of the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE) Yaroslav Kuzminov, Deputy Minister of Sports in Russia Pavel Novikov and Deputy Secretary General of the Football Union of Russia Alexander Zorkov.

With the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ already in full swing, the event was the perfect occasion to reflect on some of the current major trends in the future development of the sports industry worldwide. Sports governance and management, as well as technology and innovation, were just some of the topics focussed on during four expert panels.

“It’s a great pleasure that the CIES has joined forces with the Football Union of Russia, the Higher School of Economics, who are our academic partner in Russia, and the FIFA Master Alumni Association to organise this important conference,” said CIES President Pierre Cornu. “The latter gathered more than 300 participants to discuss the future of sport and sports management. At a time when the global sports environment continues to change at great pace, these debates are a necessity. This conference also provides an opportunity to reinforce the links between all the partners involved in the event, which is a great satisfaction to me.”

“It is an honour and privilege for the FIFA Master Alumni Association to team up with our prestigious co-organisers of the Sport and the Future conference,” FIFA Master Alumni President Giancarlo Dapoto emphasized. “At a time when the world comes together to celebrate sport’s finest spectacle, it is fitting that our association – which now boasts 500 professionals in the field of sports management and which every year welcomes graduates focused on becoming future leaders in sport – is involved in debating new and fast-changing trends and demands of the sport industry.”

Following the conference’s opening remarks, there were multiple sessions planned on the digital world in sport presented by Fabio Coelho (VP at Google Inc., President at Google Brazil), Claude Ruibal (Executive Director, Digital at Infront Sports & Media), Luis Vicente (Leader, Digital Transformation & innovation Project at FIFA) and Mikhail Demin (CEO at NTV Plus). The topic of the second panel was about new generation of sport managers with participation by FIFA Legends Leonardo Araujo and Javier Zanetti, the latter of whom serves as a vice-president for Inter Milan and two FIFA Master alumni Liliya Borisova (General Manager at the Bulgarian Basketball League) and Thabo Stiles Ntshinogang (CEO at Botswana Premier League). Pierre Cornu (CIES President and judge at the Court of Appeals in Neuchâtel, Switzerland), Nodar Akhalkatsi (Director of Executive Office General Secretary at FIFA), Angelo Rigopoulos (Head of National Associations Governance at UEFA and Andrey Vlasov (Deputy Technical Director at the Football Union of Russia) discussed the fundamental aspects of changing sport administration.

At the last panel, the primary point of discussion was about real impact of e-sports between Ralf Reichert (CEO at ESL), Christian Volk (Head of Digital Marketing at FIFA) and Dmitry Smit (President at Russian E-Sports Federation). Representatives from national sporting associations, international telecommunications companies, the International Computer Games Association and other speakers also contributed to these meetings. In the end, there was a presentation about the next World Cup in Qatar titled The Road to 2022 by representatives from Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy.

Each of these panels was moderated by FIFA Master alumni who are now working in leading positions within worldwide sport. These included: Pedro Trengrouse (4th edition), Professor at FGV (Brazil), Irina Baranova (15th edition), Media Relations at FIFA, CIES Coordinator (Russia), James Kitching (12th edition), Managing Director of Kitching Sports (Australia) and former Head of Sports Legal Services, Disciplinary and Governance at AFC, Zeynep Gencaga (16th edition), E-Sports consultant and host of TV show “Misclick” (Turkey).

Organising international academic conferences on sports has recently become a tradition during major sporting events. Over the past few years, the CIES and the FIFA Master Association have jointly organised a series of events in countries staging big competitions including the World Cups, UEFA EURO and the Olympic Games. The conferences typically involve representatives from international sporting organisations, leading international experts, the heads of international and national associations, leagues and clubs, as well as graduates from FIFA Master and the FIFA/CIES Network, which is made up of 15 educational establishments around the world.

CIES would like to take this opportunity to thank all those alumni who contributed to such a successful event in Russia. We thank you for your availability in moderating the panel sessions and also for the relevance of the contributions made to the various debates.