FIFA MASTER ALUMNI - WHERE ARE THEY NOW? - LIANG-CHEN CHEN

Chen, Liang-Chen

Current Position: Chief of International Match Unit, Chinese Taipei FA

Year of graduation: 2018 (18th edition)

Nationality: Chinese Taipei / United States

What does your current role involve?

My position is Chief of the International Match Unit. In my role I am in charge of international match related matters at the Chinese Taipei Football Association. In addition, I am also responsible for the Division 2 League in Taiwan.

I am responsible for dealing with inbound and outbound national team competition arrangements. For example, after finishing my FIFA Master degree, I successfully hosted international tournaments involving countries such as Iran, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Macau and Gibraltar. My daily routine includes arranging match scheduling, team logistics, negotiation of marketing and broadcasting rights and drafting competition regulations.

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

The various course disciplines spread across three different countries and the networking opportunities provided by the FIFA Master were all extremely helpful in shaping my career. The course is particularly busy with activities, field visits, project work and football matches! You have to adjust to different lifestyles, learn how to work with people from different cultural backgrounds to overcome any barriers of communication and mindset but they are all worth it. Overall, I think the FIFA Master is a smaller scale model of working in the sporting world. You need to learn how to balance and prioritize your time. This ability, with the lessons from the course, helped me to quickly adjust to any bumps in the road at work and sharpen my knowledge to be able to solve any predicament or dispute when working with a big group of staff.

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

Be open minded and be humble. The FIFA Master course is very competitive because everyone is an elite representative from his or her country so the competitiveness is normal. However, when the course is done and the degree has been awarded, the relationships you have built with others are what counts. So, be friends instead of competitors.

Furthermore, try to enjoy the challenges and any potential disagreements too. They are what you may face in the real world, but with a safety net which allows you to make mistakes during the course. Take a leap of faith and try to make the less likely choice you would have chosen before attending FIFA Master. This will humble you and force you to embrace the possibility of alternative opinions.

Lastly, always reflect what you have absorbed and think how you can do better to improve the sporting area you come from. Also, always try to help the people you meet along the way - both during the course and in your future career.

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 and 2021 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).