The journey in Milan comes to an end

For three months we’ve had the opportunity to call SDA Bocconi our academic home, but March has arrived and with it also comes the end of the second Module of the 24th edition of the FIFA Master.

The city of Milan welcomed us with open arms and provided unforgettable moments – both group and individual. Between classes, reading, lectures and academic work, we have all had the chance to compete amongst ourselves in a very intense futbolito tournament, won by Yair Rangel and Ludovica Giorgetti.

March began with a guest lecture by Oleksandr Kucheriavyi, a FIFA Master graduate from the 13th edition, and who has previously worked for both the Ukrainian Olympic Committee and the Ukrainian Premier League. Oleksandr is now working as National Association Strategic Development Manager at UEFA and kindly brought all aspects of sports management to the classroom for us, covering everything from the commercial area to the structure of an event. To complement this strategic vision, the class also had the chance to attend a session led by Deloitte, who presented us with tools to help sports managers with their challenges, using case studies to show their applicability.

The challenge in the sports market is closely linked to people management, and this includes individual, collective, and personal knowledge. The complexity of the subject was explored by Prof. Beatrice Manzoni, who led the HR & People Management sub-module and used different types of activities to illustrate the topic. The class was very engaged and we were able to have fun while learning.

The last sub-module was on Sports Innovation and we had the chance to individually create solutions applicable to the sports market. To do this, Prof. Antonio Palmieri explored the subject and brought to us an efficient framework which we will be able to use in the future. We all presented our ideas and helped each other with feedback that could be used to complement each other’s projects. Maybe a new partnership will emerge from this 24th edition of the FIFA Master? Watch this space!

Also in March, we had the great honour and privilege of meeting the winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, Muhammad Yunus, who brought a lot of motivation and inspiration to our personal and professional lives. It was a very symbolic way to close a very important period in our lives, which will certainly be unforgettable. To conclude the module at SDA Bocconi, Prof. Dino Ruta did a wrap-up with the class and brought in former NBA player Damjan Rudez to talk about career transition for athletes.

And so, our journey in Italy has come to an end. Today we are a stronger group, more knowledgeable and better prepared for the challenges we will face in the third and final module of the FIFA Master programme. The city of Neuchâtel in Switzerland now awaits us and we can’t wait to dive headfirst into the new topic of Sports Law.

Felipe Aires

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).