FIFA MASTER ALUMNI - WHERE ARE THEY NOW? - SERGE ARNAUD ASSUME ASSUME

Serge Arnaud Assume Assume

Current Position: Competitions Officer at Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF)

Year of graduation: 2020 (20th edition)

Nationality: Gabon

What does your current role involve?

My role as Competitions Officer, which is within the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) Competitions Division, particularly focuses on CAF’s male youth competitions (the Men’s U17 and U20 Africa Cup of Nations) which we organize every two years.

This role is extremely challenging as we must take care of so many operational aspects to guarantee the smooth running of the competitions, starting from the qualifiers – which are organised in each of the six CAF regions – to the final tournament which will take place this year in Egypt (U20) and Algeria (U17). Finally, the top four teams of each tournament qualify for their respective age group FIFA World Cup. For this year, that will be in Indonesia for the U20 World Cup and Peru for the U17 World Cup.

Knowing that African teams have an excellent track record in FIFA youth world cups, we work very hard to ensure that such good levels of representation are maintained by offering competitive continental tournaments ahead of world stage exposure.

Yes, it is a challenging role but also extremely rewarding as these two youth competitions have revealed some of the past and current prominent African players such as Seydou Keita (ex-FC Barcelona), Victor Osihmen (SSC Napoli), Kelechi Iheanacho, Patson Daka (both Leicester City FC players), Pape Matar Sarr (Tottenham Hotspur) to name just a few. Indeed, it is a real honour to contribute through these key CAF tournaments to shedding a light on these future African football stars.

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

I would without any hesitation mention the Management and Law modules taught in Milan and Neuchatel, as most of their components are applied directly or indirectly in my daily work.

The pivotal role of the Competitions Division within CAF’s structure offers me a 360 degree view and daily interaction opportunities with my colleagues in areas such as legal, marketing and IT where the knowledge acquired during these two modules in particular is often applied in some of the matters we deal with (creating/implementing competition regulations, contributing to the successful delivery of marketing activations, registering electronically the players for our competitions etc).  

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

Enjoy every single second of this life-changing experience! I can only join my fellow alumni in emphasizing on that point as the FIFA Master experience only happens once! In a blink of an eye, those ten months pass by so quickly and there is, unfortunately, no way of rewinding them, except in our memories.

Make the most of every part of the experience: the three cities of Leicester, Milan and Neuchâtel, the course content, the guest speakers, the field visits and finally the bond with your classmates who will become lifetime friends and an essential part of your growing professional network. 

FIFA Master - International Master in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport, ranked No.1 Course in Europe 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 by the SportBusiness International global rankings.

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