OFFICIAL OPENING CEREMONY HELD IN ENGLAND FOR THE 24th EDITION FIFA MASTER CLASS

On Monday 18th September 2023, the students of the 24th edition of the FIFA Master in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport were welcomed to the start of a new academic year by CIES Director and International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board Member, Prof. Denis Oswald, during a special opening ceremony held at De Montfort University (DMU) in Leicester, UK.

The new class will be based in Leicester, which is home to a wide variety of professional teams, both men and women, in sports ranging from football and rugby to cricket, basketball and hockey.

Professor Oswald was joined by CIES Council of Foundation President, Pierre Cornu, and Scientific Directors from DMU, SDA Bocconi and University of Neuchâtel.  

The opening lectures for the students will be provided by DMU’s International Centre for Sports History and Culture as the class begin the first Humanities of Sport module of the FIFA Master course. Following completion of this first stage of their studies, the class will then move to Italy in January where they will undertake the second module in Sports Management at the SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milano. The class will then later move again for the final Sports Law module in Switzerland at the University of Neuchâtel Law Faculty. Overall co-ordination is provided by the Centre International d’Etude du Sport (CIES) and the course is endorsed by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).

The 24th edition class maintains the course tradition of welcoming students from around the world and includes Mexico, Brazil, America, Chile, China, South Korea, Australia, Belgium, Libya, Ireland, Colombia, Italy, France, Canada, Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Lithuania and Japan as nationalities in the class.

The official welcome event programme included university induction sessions by the three partner universities, presentations by members of the FIFA Master Scientific Committee and an evening drinks reception on the lawns of Trinity Chapel where the students were joined by De Montfort University Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Katie Normington and other senior executives.

The CIES, De Montfort University, SDA Bocconi School of Management and the University of Neuchâtel congratulate all members of the new 24th edition class on the gaining a place on the programme and wish them every success as they begin their course studies.

Welcome to our new students: Felipe, Irving, Philip, Anthony, Dominique, Christopher, Yair, Chiara, Rasha, Edith, Pablo, Ludovica, Lucie, Cassandra, Asif, Francesco, Arjun, Lucas, Beatriz, Paola, Teresa, Guilherme, Pan, Takuma, Abi and Alice.

FIFA Master - International Master in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport, ranked No.1 Course in Europe 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 by the SportBusiness International global rankings.

Organised by CIES in partnership with De Montfort University (United Kingdom), SDA Bocconi School of Management (Italy) and the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland).