Sports law studies underway for 18th Edition FIFA Master Class

During the first month of our sports law module studies here at the University of Neuchâtel, we have been able to better understand the importance of law in the day to day operations of the international world of sport.  These lectures have come with many booklets of regulations and laws for the class to analyse. However, we have been fortunate to study with a wide number of expert professors and guest speakers who have made all the articles much more understandable and easier for us to follow.

To date, we have had lectures and speakers from most of the stakeholders involved in the football world; Ales Zavrl, Andrea Traverso and Philippe Rasmussen explained to us UEFA club licensing and Financial Fair Play. Omar Ongaro took us through the transfer market with different cases and showed us the next challenges facing the sport.  Further, we have welcomed speakers from the Player’s Union, European Professional Leagues and the European Club Association to our class. All of these lectures have given us a clearer understanding of the stakeholders involved in the professional football sector.  As a consequence, interesting debates have been held among the class of what changes we think should be made in these different areas.

The fact that many of these lectures and guest speaker sessions have been given by FIFA Master alumni such as Alberto Colombo (4th Edition), Diedrick Dewaele (5th Edition), Roy Levi (11th Edition) and Ashley Ehlert (9th Edition) have showed us all the different opportunities that we will have after graduation and are examples of how far we can progress in our careers.

Our first field visit of this new module was no less than to the home of FIFA in Zurich. This was arguably the most eagerly awaited visit of the whole year for the majority of the class. A long and intensively scheduled day was prepared for us. We had the pleasure to have speakers from different FIFA divisions such as Communications, Human Resources, Legal and Integrity, Member Associations and Tournaments & Events. We were also extremely fortunate that FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, came to give us some inspirational words and was also joined by the FIFA Secretary General, Fatma Samoura. After the visit, a FIFA Master men’s team played a football match against a FIFA representative team. Then later we were able to enjoy lunch and dinner with various FIFA Master Alumni who are now working at the organization. This provided an important opportunity to meet with FIFA Master course graduates and get to know more about their experiences both during and after the Master.

With our first sports law module examination already completed and with the second assessment fast approaching, we are now reminiscing about the inspirational speakers, different visits around Switzerland and diverse experiences we’ve already had and are looking forward to  what lies ahead for us in the next few months. We hope that the sunny days continue, which will also allow for more time by the lake, football, beach volleyball, Frisbee matches and barbecues filled with animated debates about the new sports law knowledge we are receiving on a daily basis.

The FIFA Master - International Master in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport is organized by the CIES in partnership with De Montfort University (Leicester, UK), SDA Bocconi School of Management (Milan, Italy) and the University of Neuchâtel. In 2017 the FIFA Master was ranked as the No.1 course in Europe for the fifth time by the SportBusiness International global rankings.