MEASURED MOVES - MICHAEL CHIOMENTO (FIFA MASTER 25th EDITION)

Ask Michael Chiomento where his story starts, and he’ll tell you it’s Basel, even though he was born in New York. Ask where it’s going, and the answer isn’t so clear. But one thing is: he’s never been in a rush to figure it all out. Whether through numbers, golf swings, or formulating behind-the-scenes strategy, every turn in Michael’s life has been thoughtful, steady, and shaped by the people and places that formed him.

His Swiss-Italian father and Filipina mother met as peers in New York, but their careers took them to Switzerland, where Michael would spend nearly his entire childhood. “I was born in New York, but the kid in me was raised in Basel,” he says. “That’s where the memories start.” It’s also where his foundation was laid – in a home where structure met warmth, and internationalism wasn’t a concept; it was daily life.

But it wasn’t just his parents who shaped his world. It was a family ecosystem, including his ever-present aunt and uncle and his younger sister, Sandra, who also made up the patchwork of his family’s quilt. “My parents would travel a lot for work,” Michael says. “My aunt and uncle were always there, also taking care of us.” And from shared bedrooms to gentle sibling rivalries (“I provoked her most of the time,” he laughs), Sandra became both his partner in crime and his closest confidant. “We support each other in a lot of things,” he says. “We’re very close.”

Growing up, Michael’s communities were shaped as much on the court or pitch as they were in the classroom or at home. “I grew up in sport. If a ball rolled in, I was in.” Starting off with a local football club in Basel at the age of five, he developed not only his skills but also a multicultural awareness that would stay with him for life. Many of his teammates were from families who had recently settled in Switzerland, so his friend group was naturally mixed. Different languages, traditions, and stories filled the locker room. “That’s where I learned how good teams actually work.”

Football gave him a physical outlet, but so did numbers. “My favorite subject was math,” he says with a fond smile, recalling long drives to Italy to visit family. On those drives, his dad would toss him multiplication challenges that made problem-solving feel like a sport itself. “Even to this day when I’m driving, I’ll calculate averages for fun. I keep a second scoreboard in my head – patterns, averages, little games only I can see. There’s a quiet match on my dashboard: me versus the numbers, looking for patterns the way I’d read a box score.”

At home, math wasn’t just a subject, it was a game. “We’d do competitions,” he says. “I’d try to beat my mom and sister, then I’d say, ‘Ask a question. I want to see if I’m faster than Dad.’” Puzzles, Rubik’s cubes, Sudokus, and card and board games also became tradition of light rivalry that still shows up during the holidays.

Like many teenagers, this next period of Michael’s life was full of transitions. He widened his focus and added golf – a more introspective, individual challenge that spoke to his love of measurable progress. “You can track your level with a number,” he lights up. Weekend rounds with his dad quickly became ritual.

That bond had started years earlier in the stands. When Michael was a kid, the two of them would go to every FC Basel match together. “Even today, we still go,” he says. “And I enjoy it more going with him than with anyone else.” They’ve watched great wins and heartbreaks side by side. And now they have golf too. “The best seat in Basel is the one next to my dad.”

At the same time, trips around the world deepened his worldview. “I am very grateful for how much we travelled together as a family when I was quite young,” he says. “Travel became a second coach. Across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa I learned that hospitality is a language, that etiquette is a universal handshake, and that you can belong anywhere if you listen first.”

Staying in Basel for university wasn’t a complicated decision. It was close, familiar, and had the courses that aligned with his interests. “My dad studied the same thing at the University of Basel,” he says of his pursuit of Business and Economics. “It just made sense.” But once enrolled, Michael quickly understood university was nothing like high school. “I had to realize ‘okay, this is different.’ You can’t just coast.”

The math-heavy, problem-solving style of his business and economics courses suited him well once he found his stride. “It became fun,” he says. “Solving those problems and tasks, completing the exam, passing with good grades, that gave me a huge sense of accomplishment.”

Then, questions about what came next began to surface, especially as graduation neared and the world – quite suddenly – changed.

In 2020, Michael graduated with a degree in business and economics…and no graduation ceremony. “It was on a Twitch livestream,” he says, smiling at the absurdity of this change due to the onset of the pandemic. With few options, he took a role in Luxembourg working in product management for a Swiss insurance company. It offered a new kind of challenge: living far from home for the first time during a second COVID lockdown.

It wasn’t glamorous, but it was a formative experience. “Living away from home for the first time, especially during a second COVID lockdown, it wasn’t easy,” he admits. “But I developed a lot of independence. I learned how to adapt.” And when the opportunity to transfer to Zurich arose, he took it without hesitation. “I moved into a shared flat with two friends.”

Zurich brought momentum. He values the projects and the people and realized he’s at his best with a clear line of sight to the result. “For me, it’s important to see or feel the outcome," he says. “If the work leaves a mark – something you can point to and people can experience – that’s where I’m all in. I’m drawn to roles where progress is measurable and the impact is felt – on the pitch, in the venue, in the community.”

Michael didn’t go looking for the FIFA Master, at least not at first. But when he saw the programme webpage, something about it resonated. “It was the internationalism, the diversity, and seeing how the game is built behind the scenes.”

⁠The more he looked into it, the more it made sense. “One stat stood out: 75-80% of graduates work in the sports industry,” he remembers. And not as a pivot plan, but as proof of an applied, industry-connected programme. “The FIFA Master connected my reflexes (sport and numbers) and showed me how the ninety minutes the world watches get built.” It also helped him zoom out. What looked like a game on the surface revealed something far more layered: a system built on governance, operations, and data that was deep enough to satisfy a numbers guy, but also built for something human.

Having attended four World Cups (“always two weeks each”), Michael has long been fascinated by the scale and complexity of sport. “You see the outcome,” he says. “You start to understand what it takes to stage a sporting event – and how it brings different cultures to the same place for the same reason.”

For someone raised between cultures and shaped by his diverse community, the FIFA Master felt like a perfect fit. Surrounded by classmates representing over twenty different nationalities, it gave Michael the international exposure he wanted, real-world applications, and behind-the-scenes looks at some of sport’s most iconic institutions.

The programme may be over, but Michael’s not rushing to the next thing just yet. “I’ll go back to Switzerland for now,” he says thoughtfully. “I’ll have a freer mind to apply to different things,” he says.

In true Michael fashion, it’s not indecision, it’s a measured move.

Wherever he goes next – whether it’s in football, golf, or a space yet to be defined – Michael will bring the same thoughtfulness, analytical calm, and global lens that has carried him this far. He’ll be the kind of teammate who lifts quietly and plays with purpose.

By Geneva Decker

FIFA Master 25th edition student

FIFA Master - International Master in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport, ranked Europe's No.1 course a record 12 times by SportBusiness.

FIFA Master - 25 years of Excellence in Sport Business Education - organised by CIES in partnership with De Montfort University (UK), SDA Bocconi School of Management (Italy) and the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland).