Influential SportBusiness Rankings Name the FIFA Master as Top in Europe for the Eleventh Time in New Global Survey of Graduates

The newly published 2023 SportBusiness Postgraduate course rankings have once again named the FIFA Master International Master in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport as Europe’s leading postgraduate sport management course.

The criteria used for the latest independent survey of academic courses around the world included alumni career paths, student satisfaction, diversity of course intakes, analysis of networking opportunities and wider university partnerships.

This outstanding news demonstrates the quality of our graduates and the education they receive during their studies. It is the eleventh time the FIFA Master has achieved this top European position.

CIES General Secretary Vincent Schatzmann said, “The new rankings once again demonstrate that our work on the FIFA Master and at our partner universities continues to be in the right direction for our students and provides them with the foundations necessary to build a successful career in international sport business”.

The FIFA Master provides students with a unique learning experience which begins at De Montfort University’s International Centre for Sports History and Culture in the UK, before moving to SDA Bocconi School of Management in Italy and then finally the University of Neuchâtel Faculty of Law in Switzerland. Overall organisation is provided by the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) and support is provided by football’s world governing body FIFA.

Speaking about her time on the course, 2016 graduate Mead Al Emadi who is now Project Director at the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy in Qatar said, “The FIFA Master helped in establishing for me a strong foundation in terms of understanding the history, politics, humanities and law behind sports management. Each pillar of the course widened my knowledge in ways I could not have achieved by simply working in the industry. I learnt a lot about how sport has become such a key component of many business models”.

2003 graduate and now Olympic Games Operations Director at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Pierre Ducrey said, “Completing the FIFA Master proved to be a key step in my career. It allowed me to meet fantastic individuals who became close friends, meet with key people in the industry and confirmed that this was the career I wanted to pursue. It also allowed me to access internship opportunities which gave me a first chance to acquire the experience which is so often needed to get started in the sports industry”.

Reflecting on his time as a student on the course, 2009 graduate and now FIFA Head of Olympics, Futsal and Beach Soccer, Kasra Asrar Haghighi, added, “The FIFA Master allowed me to connect with numerous industry professionals during my studies. Many of these I continue to have a good relationship with. But perhaps most importantly, the course provided me with a solid foundation to better understand how sports operate across the globe. The multi-cultural learning environment definitely helped to prepare me for working in international sport”.

Congratulations to everybody who has supported the course, from our academic and industry guest speakers, field visit organisations, FIFA and alumni who are now working around the globe in diverse positions dedicated to sport. We are extremely proud of everything that we have achieved together.

Read the full 2023 SportBusiness ranking announcement at this link: https://www.sportbusiness.com/2023/10/1-in-europe-the-fifa-master-at-cies/

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).