International Equestrian Federation (FEI) President Ingmar De Vos Announced as Patron of the FIFA Master 24th Edition Class

The CIES and FIFA Master course Scientific Committee are delighted to announce that President of the International Equestrian Federation (Fédération Equestre Internationale - FEI), Mr. Ingmar De Vos, will be the FIFA Master 24th Edition Class Patron.

Ingmar, who is originally from Belgium, has been President of the International Equestrian Federation since 2014, previously holding the position of General Secretary since 2011.

Educated in sports management, business administration and international law, he began his career in politics before working for the Belgian Equestrian Federation. Here, he supported that nation's equestrian teams at the Olympics and the FEI World Equestrian Games.

Since 2017, he has been a Member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and is currently a member of three IOC Commissions: Legal Affairs Commission, Los Angeles 2028 Summer Olympic Games Coordination Commission and the Gender Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Commission. He has also previously served as a member of the IOC Digital and Technology Commission.

He is a member of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) Governance Task Force since 2016 and became an ASOIF Council Member in April 2019. He has been elected unanimously as the new President of the ASOIF at the 48th ASOIF General Assembly held in Birmingham (GBR). He will take up his new position on 1 January 2025.

From 2018 to 2022, Ingmar De Vos served on the Foundation Board of the World Anti- Doping Agency (WADA). Since 2018, he has been a member of the WADA Executive Committee.

In 2014, Ingmar De Vos became vice-president of the International Horse Sports Confederation (IHSC), an umbrella body created by the FEI and the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA) – the first formal vehicle for cooperation between the world's leading governing bodies for equestrian sport. He served as IHSC President from December 2019 to April 2022, and will once again take on the role of IHSC Vice-president for a two-year period.

CIES Director and IOC Executive Committee Member, Professor Denis Oswald said, “We are delighted that M. De Vos has agreed to be Patron of our 2023-24 edition of the course. M. De Vos will join a select group of past edition patrons, who include names such as Olympian Jonathan Edwards CBE, Sir Bobby Charlton, former Ballon d’Or winner, George Weah, and IOC Member and Olympian, Jean-Christophe Rolland. We now look forward to welcoming him to Neuchâtel in July for the class graduation ceremony.”

We are delighted to be able to welcome such a prominent figure from the world of international sport as our special guest in what will be an important day for our graduating students and their families.

FIFA Master - International Master in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport, ranked  Europe's No.1 course a record 11 times by SportBusiness.

Organised by CIES in partnership with De Montfort University (UK), SDA Bocconi School of Management (Italy) and the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland).