‘All good things must come to an end’ – including the adventure for the FIFA Master 21st Edition Class

And then June 2021 arrived… This could be the Prologue of many stories and books. However, in this article, it relates to the students of the FIFA Master 21st edition. Indeed, June 2021 could not have had a better start, as the class had the opportunity to spend a whole day at the FIFA Museum in Zurich. We were welcomed by the amazing FIFA Museum staff, who then gave a personalized FIFA Master Museum Tour and interesting presentations on the heritage and legacy of football, amongst other topics.

The very next day the adventure continued as the FIFA Master 21st edition visited the World Archery Federation Centre of Excellence in Lausanne. Here we all had the chance to practice our archery skills and compete in a shooting competition. At the end of the week, the students had a remarkably interesting Entrepreneurship Day, which was organized by Alumni of the FIFA Master. During this day, the students got to enjoy different presentations from Alumni of the course, who not only shared best practices, but also provided the students with important hints and ideas.

It was then time for the highlight of the month with the visit to the Home of Football, the FIFA Headquarters in Zurich. The students were welcomed by none other than the FIFA President, Mr. Gianni Infantino. After the President’s Welcome Speech, the students got to enjoy different presentations from a wide number of FIFA staff who gave an insight into some of the work of their departments, such as the Football Technology Department, Member Association Division, and Litigation. Another highlight of the day was the presentation by the FIFA Foundation CEO, Mr. Youri Djorkaeff, who delighted the class with an unbelievably detailed talk about his own experiences at the World Cup Final of 1998. The students were then surprised with a guest visit from the General Secretary of FIFA, Ms. Fatma Samoura, who gave a hugely impressive and inspirational speech to the group. This memorable day at the Home of Football was concluded with a special football match between the FIFA Master 21st edition and a FIFA FC team. Congratulations to the winning FIFA Master 21st edition team on a well-deserved victory!

Our days continue to be full of challenges, emotions and rewards. Another great exercise which we were able to engage with was the Moot CAS Arbitration, as guided by Antonio Rigozzi and Andreas Zagklis, General Secretary of FIBA, on the always complex and debated topic of doping in sport.

In the setting of a CAS Olympic ad-hoc procedure, the students were divided into working groups representing the legal interests of the involved parties, as well as the Panel, who were called to decide upon the dispute and issue the final award. We wouldn't be exaggerating to say that the class passionately studied the case for long days (and nights) and delivered outstanding legal arguments and sharp counter claims, which made it difficult for the impeccable Panel to take a decision. After 45 minutes of intense internal discussion, the Panel finally deliberated and announced the award: Justice is served!

The Panel ruling officially marked the end of our FIFA Master Law Module studies which was a surreal, bittersweet moment for all the group.

As we guide you through the final act of our journey, the FIFA Master class are currently working on their Final Projects by finalizing interviews with influential stakeholders in the sports industry and collecting responses to worldwide-circulated questionnaires. 

The Final Projects will be officially presented on Thursday 15th July in Neuchatel and the discussions are expected to set the bar very high as the six selected topics are truly up to date and highly relevant in the context of the global sports industry.

The following day, the official Graduation Ceremony for the class will take place. A day of deserved recognition and celebration of the FIFA Master students and their journey.  In case you were wondering, yes, it is dress-hunting time right now!

It is a fight against many deadlines at the moment for our class. The stress is quite high at this stage of the programme (and summer); but indeed, there is still time to enjoy the ride! 

The question that then comes into focus is - what are we all going to do after our FIFA Master journey ends? But we want to keep this question for our next article and for now just carpe diem!

 

FIFA Master - International Master in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport, ranked No.1 Course in Europe 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 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).