New administrative coordinator appointed for the SUAD/FIFA/CIES Executive Programme in Abu Dhabi

Picture from left to right: Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA, Atanas Tarkalanov, Administrative coordinator of the SUAD/FIFA/CIES Executive Programme, Denis Oswald, CIES Director.

Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi (SUAD) has just appointed Atanas Tarkalanov as the administrative coordinator of the SUAD/FIFA/CIES Executive Programme.

Atanas, who is an alumnus of the Executive Programme, is a former professional volleyball player and coach. He will also be tasked with physical education classes at SUAD who have been a CIES academic partner since 2014. He is absolutely thrilled with his appointment: "It is a great pleasure for me to coordinate the FIFA/CIES Executive Programme at SUAD, even more so given that it made a significant contribution to my vocational education."

With his colleagues Abdulrazzaq Al-Mahmood and Damir Valeev, Atanas Tarkalanov also won the 2018 FIFA/CIES University Network Prize for the project: "Green Card: Creating a sustainable stadia system in the United Arab Emirates".

Speaking about his time on the course, Atana’s comments are very positive. "The FIFA/CIES University Network Prize was the best possible reward for our collective efforts. We worked on the project with great passion and our efforts paid off. We are very proud to have contributed to winning an international academic and sporting competition for the United Arab Emirates. I hope that with this success, we will have paved the way for a new trend in the Emirates and that the SUAD/FIFA/CIES Executive Programme will become a key player in the training of sport managers at the local level."

We extend our congratulations to Atanas and look forward to working with him to develop the SUAD/FIFA/CIES Executive Certificate!