Busy November for Current 17th Edition Class in Leicester

Our teaching at the beginning of November focused on the Internationalisation of Sport submodule as well as a finance examination with our beloved lecturer, Dr. Peter Scott. In the context of Internationalization in sports, we had the pleasure to attend lectures with Prof. Pierre Lanfranchi who is an expert in the field of global sports history. Through these lectures, the class has now learnt how to connect international concepts of sports to its wider political involvement in a historical context.

During these weeks of teaching we also had the opportunity to exchange with guest speakers such as Dr Richard Mills, Ken McCue and alumni Solomon Mudege (FIFA) and Rhali Amrani who is now working at the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy in Qatar for the 2022 World Cup. Further, we also had the special opportunity to take part in the Leicester Tigers Business Networking Event which gave us the chance to meet and interact with successful entrepreneurs, senior politicians and regional business Directors - not only from the world of sports but also from the private sector.

The second part of November mainly focused on our Research Methods submodule which was taught by Dr Kevin Marston. The topic of research methods is closely related to our group Final  Projects and how we can successfully collect and analyze information to support our research argument for this important piece of work.

The highlight for us in November, though, was our field visit to Manchester. It was our second visit to the city and our first overnight field trip due to the volume of the programme which had been arranged for us. This time we targeted multiple destinations. Our first visit was to  Manchester City FC. The City  Football  Group (CFG) provided us with the most comprehensive  and detailed field visit so far. Our group was able to meet and learn from senior executives working in different areas in the club, including several FIFA Master Alumni who hold senior positions within CFG. After spending the night at the stadium hotel of Bolton Wanderers FC, we visited the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA). The PFA Chief Executive, Gordon Taylor OBE, welcomed us very kindly and gave us an inside look of their main operations and  responsibilities to the players they represent. Our final destination in Manchester was to the National Football Museum, the “Disney World” for the football enthusiasts on our programme!

Overall the month of November brought us closer together as a group as we learnt to work more efficiently together - regardless of our previous career experiences and multicultural backgrounds.

         

Sebastian Frings and Daria Smirnova