FIFA Master Alumni – Where are they now? – Nadia Wu

Nadia Wu

Current Position: International Business Development Manager for Juventus F.C.

Year of graduation: 2014 (14^th edition)

Nationality: Taiwanese

 

What does your current role involve?

I joined Juventus at their Headquarters in Turin as soon as I graduated from my FIFA Master class. Juventus is a very important football club with a long history. Indeed, we have just celebrated our 120^th birthday. As a result, it has attracted more than 300 million fans globally. With regards to performance on the pitch, Juventus has been the home to notable players and coaches such as, Del Piero, Pirlo, Nedved, Zindane, Conte, Lippi, and Cannavaro to name just a few! Juventus is the first club to win the Serie A title for 6 consecutive years.

During my first year at Juventus I was working on branding and internationalisation aspects for the club. Through my job, I was able to identify and recognise the different cultural perspectives of the East and the West. This helped our team to come up with a great amount of new ideas and initiatives. Next I joined our international business development team. I am now responsible for generating new business and also exploring tour opportunities for our various sports teams. With my background, I am able to contribute more when we are talking to stakeholders from Asia and where we share similar cultures.

 

Which aspects of the FIFA Master course have helped you most in your career?

I enjoyed everything.

In terms of the personal life of the class, I enjoyed learning about the cultural differences between my classmates from every possible corner of the world. For example, I even learnt about goat racing in Tanzania! Just a very common gesture or habit in my culture may be a huge surprise to other students, and vice versa. After graduation, I grew more reflective and reminiscent about every moment we spent together as a class.

When it comes to academic experiences, I loved all the modules I was able to take during my FIFA Master studies. They all gave me different inspiration. The Sports History module has helped me to integrate myself into the international society I am now working in by better understanding social contexts from a historical perspective. Even though I had acquired some history knowledge in the past back home, it was truly different to study it in greater academic detail and within the actual environment of the International Centre for Sports History and Culture in Leicester. For the second module at SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan, we were able to learn the managerial and financial aspects of sport business from international big brands such as Ferrari, AC Milan and Inter. Then for the final stage of the course at the University of Neuchâtel Faculty of Law in Switzerland, we not only learnt about the legal structures of a sporting entity, but also had lots of opportunities to meet with important senior officials from international sport. These opportunities organised by the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) helped to open many doors in our careers after graduation.

 

What advice could you give to future students on the course?

The time passes so quickly; something which you don’t notice when you are on the course. Cherish every moment you have - both with your classmates and during the classes. You will certainly miss everyone as soon as you graduate. Also, it is always helpful to be proactive to connect with the FIFA Master Alumni Family as this will help you greatly, whether it is to just make new friends or to create business opportunities.

It may sound exciting to live and study with people of extremely diverse backgrounds in three different countries for one year, and using three different languages and currencies too! However, it may also be stressful at times, as the pace of your studies picks up quickly and you must react to this with your best efforts. But remember this is a very important and key moment as you grow to be a future leader in the sports industry and where everything will be fast

As travelling distances have shortened and the time required for effective communication is becoming less and less, I firmly believe the FIFA Master is very good training prior to joining, or even returning, to the global sports business industry.

 

The FIFA Master - International Master in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport is organized by the CIES in partnership with De Montfort University (Leicester, UK), SDA Bocconi School of Management (Milan, Italy) and the University of Neuchâtel. In 2017 the FIFA Master was ranked as the No.1 course in Europe for the fifth time by the SportBusiness International global rankings.

Discover more examples of inspiring FIFA Master alumni career paths by clicking here.