"Grazie Mille, Milano!"

Well, the “Siberian Winter” has finally landed in Milan and the chilling wind and snow reminds us of our last weeks in Leicester, but keeps us looking forward to the first hints of spring. The Milan module of the FIFA Master course has kept us extremely busy with interesting group projects and intriguing lectures from our professors and guest lecturers. We have covered a variety of topics within each sub module, such as understanding the expectations of stakeholders in an organization, measuring the KPIs of multi-channel marketing, and the importance of calculating Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA).

In February, we had the chance to take a trip to Turin and visit the Allianz Stadium of Juventus F.C. The new Juventus stadium sets the standard for the Serie A of what a modern and technologically advanced stadium should look like. We took a trip to Sky Sports Italy and spoke with executives about the future of TV sports rights and where sports broadcast is heading. We were also able to get a behind the scenes look at the studio, where all sports broadcast shows are filmed and met with Italian football commentating legend, Fabio Caressa. In addition, we travelled to Bologna to visit the Ducati Factory and got an exclusive look into how each part of the bike is engineered and custom made for its specific owner. We were also visited in class by guest lecturers such as Simone Santini - VP of Sales from Adidas, FIFA Master Alumni Court Jeske - CEO of Nashville S.C., and Javier Sobrino - Strategic Planner and Director of FC Barcelona’s Innovation Hub. It’s one thing to hear sports industry leaders speak about the projects they are working on but it is truly inspiring to be able to engage in thoughtful discussions with them and learn about the pathway taken to their current role.

Outside of the classroom, we have had the chance to enjoy our time by exploring all that Milan and its neighbouring cities have to offer. In particular, we have dined at amazing restaurants, attended an AC Milan match at San Siro, cheered on the men’s team at Vero Volley, played a host of 5-a-side friendly football games, and visited Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece ‘The Last Supper.’ Looking back at the past month and half, it’s hard to believe that we have completed a number of projects and exams, listened to incredible lectures and engaged with several sports industry leaders in such a short amount of time. It also reminds us that the Milan module is soon coming to an end and the next part of our journey is on the horizon. Stay tuned as we finish up our last couple weeks in Milan and head to our next destination. Andiamo a Svizzera!

Alessandro Gramaglia and Alexa Vickroy, class representatives for the Milan module

The FIFA Master - International Master in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport is organized by the CIES in partnership with De Montfort University (Leicester, UK), SDA Bocconi School of Management (Milan, Italy) and the University of Neuchâtel. In 2017 the FIFA Master was ranked as the No.1 course in Europe for the fifth time by the SportBusiness International global rankings.