FIFA/CIES NETWORK PRIZE 2013: AND THE WINNER IS…

During a meeting held at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich on 1 February 2013, an international jury - consisting of representatives from FIFA, CIES and the academic world - awarded the 2013 FIFA/CIES International University Network Prize.

The jury members decided to crown the project presented by Sandra Ávila Tinoco, Fernando Corral Collantes, Erika Montemor Ferreira and Regina Schmidt Rio-Valle (University King Juan Carlos, Madrid) on the subject of “The debt of Spanish clubs. Causes and possible solutions.” (“La deuda de los clubes. Causas y soluciones.”) as the winning project.

At the end of their meeting, the jury members stated: “We received excellent projects this year. We took our decision unanimously after long and careful consideration. Our choice was guided by the academic quality of the work, the quality of its presentation and its thoroughness.”

It is worth noting that two other projects particularly caught the attention of the jury, namely the project presented by Bahcesehir University of Istanbul (“Glocalize your league!”) and the one presented by Universdad Católica Argentina of Buenos Aires (“Akening - a high performance centre for extreme sports”) (“Akening - Centro de Alto Redimiento para Deportes Extremos”).

Since the creation of the FIFA/CIES Network Prize, the jury members have noticed a continuous improvement in the quality of the works, especially in terms of content (choice and relevance of the topics, adequacy with the national sport setting, feasibility, etc.). They thank all the groups who participated in the competition for their great efforts.

The FIFA/CIES International University Network Prize was created to acknowledge the best group project developed within the FIFA/CIES Programme in sport management. The prize-winners will now have the opportunity to travel to Switzerland and visit FIFA’s “House of Football”, the CIES headquarters in Neuchâtel and to present their work to the FIFA Master students.

FIFA and the CIES wish to congratulate Sandra, Fernando, Erika and Regina, and look forward to welcoming them all to Switzerland soon!