FIFA MASTER ALUMNI - WHERE ARE THEY NOW? - GINELLE POLINI-TIMINERI

Ginelle Polini-Timineri

Current Position: Global Brand Partnerships Director at Minute Media

Year of graduation: 2016 (16th edition)

Nationalities: Canadian / Italian

What does your current role involve?

I am based in the London office of Minute Media. I work in the International Sales Team managing business development and commercial growth across our brand partnerships. We run some of the biggest global sports publishers including 90min and The Players' Tribune using in-house proprietary technology, meaning our brands have incredible capability to distribute video and branded content. We support our partners, a number of which are major brand partners in global football, by activating their sponsorships through our digital sports channels including media, content and storytelling, social and video.

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

The FIFA Master was an incredible stepping stone to help internationalise my career. Even though I had experience working in sport in Canada prior to the FIFA Master, the opportunity to grow my network abroad and learn about the industry at a global level helped me to take the next step to relocate to the UK and extend my career to a new place. The FIFA Master teaches you to be resilient and how to work with people from all around the world. It certainly helped my own development and career path, along with being more open and adaptable to new opportunities too.

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

Be very intentional about what you want to get out of the course and ensure all of your energy is spent absorbing as many opportunities and information as possible. Whilst it's an amazing opportunity to learn directly from Rights Holders and global companies in the industry, I'd tell future students to be open to opportunities even outside of these organisations. The industry is so big and there are a variety of ways to find a career path in sport. Find your niche and focus on developing that as a core strength!

FIFA Master - International Master in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport, ranked  Europe's No.1 course a record 11 times by SportBusiness.

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