Halfway point in our journey

February marked an exciting month for the city of Milan with the first notes of colour returning after the bleak winter months. The Milan Carnival brought with it scatterings of colourful confetti in the streets, the stylings of Fashion Week demonstrated the dynamic and bold designs that mirror the city’s spirit and the distinct blue and red scarves of the Nerazzurri and Rossoneri supporters paved the way to San Siro for their teams Champions League and Europa League fixtures.

The FIFA Master class kicked off the month in a comparably exciting and colourful fashion with our field visit to the team at Ferrari in Maranello. The class was taken through the company’s history and brand evolution over the decades as well as getting an insight into the world of esports at Ferrari delivered by FIFA Master alumni Rong Chen (22^nd edition). The trip concluded with a guided tour of the Museo Ferrari where the class got to experience up close the craftmanship and design details behind the classic models and iconic racing memorabilia on display.

With our trip to Maranello marking the final field trip for our time in Milan, it was time to head back to the classroom. The class took on their next submodule focusing on marketing and digital strategy with Professor Davide Reina where we spent the month working together in groups before delivering our final presentations. The group celebrated the end of the module with our first basketball game, where Professor Reina continued to put the class to the test, this time on the court. The game was followed by a trip to the trattoria, ensuring everyone left a winner.

We continued to have a great variety of guest speakers from across the sports industry visit our class at SDA Bocconi and we saw out the month turning our attention to our next submodule which will focus on sport event management with experts Professor Deborah Racccagni and Giueseppe Rizzello. Our time at SDA Bocconi this month was not just spent in the classroom however, with the group taking part in a series of futsal tournaments with other masters’ groups and alumni from the business school.

The class wrapped up the month in true Milan style with an aperitivo evening held alongside members of the FIFA Master Scientific Committee and members of the wider CIES family.  The evening was a great opportunity for the class to catch up and reconnect with the team from Leicester as well as getting to know better our Swiss colleagues ahead of the move to Neuchâtel in the coming weeks. 

Having now reached the halfway point in our journey, February marked a month for the class to reflect on how much we have experienced on our travels and how far we have all come as a group and as individuals. The reflection time has also shown us how much there is still to look forward to in the coming months. With one month left in Milan, the second half is truly underway for the 24^th edition. Game on!

Edith Finn

FIFA Master 24th edition

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).