Understanding the past, present and future value of sport in Leicester!

The 22nd edition FIFA Master class arrived in Leicester in September with a huge amount of excitement and anticipation at starting the world’s most diverse and best sports education programme. 

With the majority of the class having no previous academic or work experience in the area of history, we began our studies with some trepidation.  However, that thought was thoroughly washed away right after our first lecture on “Sport’s Past in Sport’s Present” by Prof. Martin Polley. As we progressed in our studies for the Humanities of Sport Module - which is the first stage of the FIFA Master delivered by the International Centre for Sports History and Culture at De Montfort University (DMU) in Leicester (England) - our classes just got better and better. Today, by default we all think of sport in the context of Past, Present and Future, a state of transition between these three stages of understanding as the true essence of what it was, it is and will be as an industry.

It has been 46 days since 32 of us from 26 countries began to live and study together in our new home at Castle Court on the campus at DMU. October has flown past and it is hard to believe that we have already completed two of our sub-modules on the Birth of Modern Sport and Professional Sport in Context, Our course might look as academic as many others, but the bonus is how we have top-level historians, journalists and executive leaders from across the United Kingdom and elsewhere delivering lectures for us on their areas of expertise, ranging from racism in football to the GAA to the history of women’s cricket to the whole of the Olympics from when it was a mere curiosity to the global sporting spectacle it is today.

October was also a busy month of course field visits - the exciting part of the course – bringing our classroomn based studies to life, with leading names such as Wimbledon, The Queen Elizebeth London Olympic Park, Rugby School, Leicester City FC, Lord’s MCC, Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) and Manchester United FC all visited by the class so far!

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY, has been a key theme during the Humanities of Sport module in Leicester. These sessions have included several female lecturers who are researching this área and also FIFA Master alumni Neikelle Moore (11th Edition) and Eden Ghebresellassie (9th Edition) who joined us for a wide ranging debate around current issues on racism in sport.

Outside of our studies, we are all just crazy sports enthusiasts! We have already had the opportunity to attend the Leicester City FC v. Napoli Europa League Group Stage Match, Leicester City FC Women v. Tottenham Women FA Women’s Super League Match, Leicester Tigers v. Saracens Premiership Rugby Match, Leicester City FC v. Brighton and Hove Albion FC in the EFL League Cup and most recently Leicester Riders v. Newcastle in the British Basketball League! There will be lots more to come in the coming months too!

Last but not least, one of the essential aspects of the FIFA Master are the fantastic interactions we have with our course alumni. In addition to Eden and Neikelle mentioned above, so far we have been fortunate to meet the President of the FIFA Master Alumni Association, Mr Julian Smith (19th Edition) who is a sports technology consultant, Aayush Dabas (15th Edition), who works at the ICC as Partnerships Manager and Danis Roberts (13th edition) who is Digital and Content Lead at the MCC. All of these meetings have helped us to engage in the process of what we call “learning from one generation to the next” and we look forward to meeting more alumni before the end of the Leicester module.

This is just the beginning, though, and we are all very excited for what the future has in store for us. Now we are looking forward to November when among the many things we have planned is a visit to the other side of football in Manchester, with a trip to the Premier League Champions Manchester City FC and the National Football Museum!

Signing off for now,

Aisha Nazia & Alberto Trovomala

22nd Edition FIFA Master Candidates

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 and 2021 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).