FIFA Master 15th edition: May summary

The second legal sub-module kicked off with “Career Week”.  To begin, we were introduced, by International Head-hunter Cédric Le Nest, to the huge variety of work opportunities available in the sports industry.  He also shared with us his expert advice regarding CV drafting and interview techniques. 

Next on the agenda was an entrepreneurship workshop run by FIFA Master Entrepreneurs.  After hearing some inspirational first-hand accounts of entrepreneurship we each took a test to see how entrepreneur-like we were and finally were put through our paces in a Dragon’s Den simulation.  Various presentation techniques were adopted to entice the ‘Dragons’ to invest in our ideas - the most memorable being some blatant flirting!

After presenting our pitches we all piled into the bus to head to Lausanne and the opening of the WISE (Work in Sports Exhibition).  Here we listened to an esteemed panel debate the pros and cons of the Olympic Agenda 2020 and ended the day with a few networking drinks before heading back to Neuchâtel.

Bright and early the following day we made the journey back to Lausanne to take part in the WISE where we attended presentations, seminars, workshops and panel discussions led by leaders in the sports industry. 

A stimulating day was capped off with the CIES receiving the 2015 Professors' Choice Award from SportBusiness International for the FIFA Master.  In addition, the new 2015 rankings confirmed that the FIFA Master was again the No1 postgraduate sports management course in Europe.

The following day we returned to Lausanne, which was fast becoming our second home (!), for the third and final day of the WISE. 

To round off Career Week we had our third field trip, this time to FIBA. We were welcomed to the offices by Mr Florian Wanninger, the Director of the International Basketball Foundation, and were then free to take a look around the impressive and interactive museum display.  After “shooting some hoops” and practicing our slam-dunks we were introduced to the unique governance structure of FIBA by Benjamin Cohen (Head of Governance & Legal Affairs).  To conclude the morning we heard about the digital, media and sponsorship strategies of FIBA.  After lunch we heard presentations regarding FIBA’s new competition calendar and the increasingly popular game of 3x3 basketball.  We left with a greater understanding of the innovative and dynamic organisation that is FIBA.

Once ‘home’ in Neuchâtel the volleyballers amongst us headed down to the stadium to take part in the annual ‘Night of Volleyball’ competition.  Little did we know that this was indeed a whole night of volleyball – our last games being scheduled for 2am the following morning!  Both teams, Marco’s Family and Lanfranchi’s Army, were worthy competitors and Lanfranchi’s Army made it through to the semifinals only to be knocked out by the reigning champions.

After some much needed R&R over the weekend we started the following week with lectures on events and bidding processes by Denis Oswald and Jorg Vollmuller.  Keeping with the event theme we then heard from Patrick Vajda in relation to risk management of events and from Pierre Cornu in terms of the various civil and criminal liability of parties involved in sports.

The short week ended with a fascinating discussion with Dr Michel D’Hoogue, a FIFA Executive Member for the past 27 years.  His discussion was centred around the sportive, social, economic and medical aspects of football, touching on topical issues of transparency, internal communications, goaline technology, concussions, match-fixing, racism and doping.

A four day weekend was welcomed by all and spent by many holidaying abroad or hiking around Switzerland.

Refreshed, we returned to classes to discuss the matter of doping in sport from a legal, scientific and medical perspective.  Presentations by Martial Saugy and Dr Patrick Schamasch made the scientific and medical anti-doping challenges clear and the panel discussions highlighted many of the future challenges associated with the anti-doping movement.

The theme of ethical issues was explained the following day when Pierre Cornu took us through the hairy topics of governance, corruption, match-fixing and sports betting.  His first-hand accounts dealing with such topics made for some fascinating (and troubling) stories.

The following day we ventured off to the UCI to try our hands at cycling on the velodrome.  After a few false starts getting accustomed to the cleats we progressed to the velodrome.  Nerves aplenty, we started timidly not convinced that the (seemingly!) 90 degree slope to the right of us was cycliable.  Thankfully, we had some expert assistance and a few brave souls proved it was possible before a good chunk of us took the plunge.  Talk about an adrenaline rush!  Poor DK and Mother Russia had a wee spill and walked away with some nasty burns but fortunately there were no other incidents.  Our resident World Champion athlete reminded us what she does for a day job and blew us out of the water on the individual time trial – evidence enough that should she decide to switch codes someday track cycling has her name all over it.

After refuelling with lunch we reconvened for presentations regarding the World Cycling Centre, marketing & events and the anti-doping program where we learnt about the training and education provided to athletes worldwide, new media technologies and the unique anti-doping program of the UCI.  The day ended with the Panthers demonstrating a commanding win over the IOC footballers.

The following day we were fortunate to hear from Mr Horst Lichtner.  He spoke in detail about his impressive background in major sports events and specifically in relation to the International Ice-Hockey Federation and his role as the General Secretary. 

We are not quite sure how the end of May has come around so quickly.  The general feeling is one of shock, excitement and apprehension as the final eight weeks dawn upon us and the stark reality that our (extended) student days will be over shortly.  There is of course plenty to be done but we plan to enjoy every moment as it will all be over too soon.

 

Rebecca Hooper and Francisco Diaz, class representatives in Neuchâtel