The FIFA Master and Women’s Sport
July will see Switzerland host the eagerly anticipated 2025 UEFA Women’s Euros. As the home of the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) and the FIFA Master course, this summer provides an opportunity to stop and reflect on what will be a fantastic summer of women’s sport. Indeed, it is a nice coincidence that the England Lionesses, in their final warm-up game as the reigning European Champions before they travel to Switzerland to defend their title, will be against Jamaica at Leicester’s King Power Stadium on Sunday 29th June. Leicester is the location for the opening Humanities of Sport module of the FIFA Master and is delivered by the International Centre for Sports History and Culture, here at De Montfort University, in the city.
Since the first edition of the FIFA Master was launched, nearly 230 female students from around the world have graduated from our programme and are now working in the global sports industry. Just a few examples include 2014 graduate Ratu Tisha Destria who is now Vice President of the PSSI (Football Association of Indonesia), 2013 graduate Arijana Demirovic who is now Head of Development in FIFA’s Women´s Football Division, 2006 graduate, Hannah Burns, who is now the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Head of Promotion for Olympic Games Candidatures, 2018 graduate, Hem Kaur Sidhu, who is now Head of Women’s Football at the All India Football Federation (AIFF), 2016 graduate Namrata Chatterjee who is now League Secretary at Indian Super League (ISL), 2017 graduate Ya (Agnes) Gao from China who is a Senior Manager in the International Department at the Chinese Football Association (CFA) and 2011 graduate Áine Power who is now Executive Director, Sport and Games at the Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI). We are also extremely lucky to be able to mention an extensive list of former elite level women’s footballers as part of our growing alumni community, including 2012 UEFA Women’s Champions League winner with Olympique Lyon, Ami Otaki from Japan, Servette FC Chênois Féminin Women’s Champions League player Alyssa Lagonia from Canada/Italy and who is now UEFA Women’s Football Development Coordinator, Paola Lopez Yrigoyen from Mexico who is now Unions and Players Relations Officer at FIFPro, former Kenya Women’s Team Captain and now FIFPro Africa Board Member, Teresa Ouko Calleb, former Libyan Women’s Team Captain, Rasha Elghorour, Palestine Women’s Team Captain and now FIFA Corporate Communications Manager Honey Thaljieh and Bhutan Women’s Team Captain, Pema Choden Tshering. Away from football, 2012 graduate Mirella Arnhold represented Brazil in Alpine skiing at two Winter Olympic Games (Salt Lake City 2002 and Turin 2006). As the first athlete to represent her country in the discipline she was nominated as the 2002 opening ceremony flag bearer by the Brazilian Olympic Committee (BOC). This list could go on and on, with many others profiled in our ‘Where are they now?’ interview series.
Women’s sport is explored from a historical, management and legal perspective as our students complete their FIFA Master course studies during the modules held in Leicester, Milan and Neuchâtel. Further, many of the academic conferences we have arranged since the course was first launched in 2000 have also focussed on this area. For example, to mark the 20th anniversary year of the Master, here at De Montfort University we organised a special conference on ‘Female Leadership in International Sport’ , with course graduates returning as our guest speakers. This was followed in 2023 by a special evening event, again organised by the International Centre for Sports History and Culture, where Leicester Tigers Rugby Club Chief Executive Officer, Andrea Pinchen, who is one of the few female CEO’s working in the sport, joined us on campus for a unique opportunity to learn more about the challenges and opportunities presented by her career in top level sport.
Then, earlier this year to mark our 25th anniversary, a conference held at SDA Bocconi during the Sport Management module focussed on ‘The Italian Legacy of Milano Cortina 2026’ Winter Olympic Games. Here, speakers included Diana Bianchedi who is Chief of Strategy, Planning and Legacy, Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026, five times Italian Olympian and eleven Olympic medals winner in short track speed skating, Arianna Fontana, three times Italian Paralympian and six Paralympic medals winner in wheelchair fencing, Bebe Vio and the Deputy mayor for sports, tourism and youth policies, City of Milan, Martina Riva. The event, which was open to the public, was attended by our current 25th edition class and was hugely successful. Once again, and as we see so often, it clearly demonstrated the continuing power of sport to bring people together and was closely followed by the news a few weeks later that the International Olympic Committee had elected its 10th and first female President, Kirsty Coventry, from Zimbabwe.
Our course links to Olympic sport – and particularly women’s Olympic sport - go even further. One of the proudest moments in the history of the FIFA Master was when our 2015 graduate from New Zealand, Emma Twigg, powered her way to Olympic Gold at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games in the Single Sculls rowing final. Having witnessed at first hand the level of training and dedication required to compete at Olympic standard, with gym sessions built around her lecture schedule every day of the week, it was thrilling to see it rewarded on the biggest stage possible a few years later. We were delighted, therefore, when Emma became our first ever student to return as Class Patron during the graduation ceremony held at the Chateau de Neuchâtel for our 22nd edition class. She would then follow this with an Olympic Silver medal at Paris 2024 – incredibly her fifth Olympic Games appearance. Also, one of my career highlights was to be able to organise a special FIFA Master distinguished guest lecture during our Leicester module with the then Minister for the Olympics, The Right Honourable Baroness Tessa Jowell MP. To gain a such privileged insight into the role of politics and government in delivering large-scale mega events like the London 2012 Olympic Games is a day both myself and the class that year will never forget. It also clearly demonstrated the importance and value of bringing leading industry representatives into the classroom as part of the course learning process for our students and is one of the reasons why the FIFA Master has now been ranked the No.1 Postgraduate Sport Management course in Europe a record twelve times.
With students recruited from around the world each year to join the course, diversity and inclusion has also always been one of the main pillars of strength of the course. It is no surprise, therefore, that many of our graduates go on to build extremely successful and important careers in this area of sport. 2019 graduate Erica Puppo (Brazilian / Italian) is now Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Manager at the world players’ union FIFPro. 2016 graduate Primrose Mhunduru from Zimbabwe is now Gender Equality and Inclusion Manager at the IOC, along with 2015 graduate Kirsty Burrows from the United Kingdom who is now the IOC’s Associate Director of Health, Medicine and Science, previously being Head of Safe Sport – Safeguarding and Mental Health.
At this point it should also be noted that we have a large number of our male graduates now working in senior positions helping to grow and develop women’s sport too. To give just two examples, 2014 graduate Gianluca Famigli from Italy, works in the Women’s Football Competitions Department at FIFA as Senior Competitions Manager, and 2020 graduate, Tyson Scott from Australia, is now Senior Women’s Football Relations Manager also at FIFA. Again, there are many more who could be mentioned, including those who have now set up women’s sport consultancies, such as 2014 graduate, Dan Wymark, who also previously worked in women’s football development at UEFA.
After the conclusion of this summer’s Women’s Euros and the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, attention will next turn to both the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup to be hosted in Brazil and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics - the first games which will feature more female athletes than male.
For all of these events you can be sure that many of our graduates will be working to ensure their successful delivery, or they will be in attendance as fans supporting their national teams or favourite athletes.
This article was written by James Panter, FIFA Master Humanities of Sport Module Coordinator.
FIFA Master - International Master in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport, ranked Europe's No.1 course a record 12 times by SportBusiness.
FIFA Master - 25 years of Excellence in Sport Business Education - organised by CIES in partnership with De Montfort University (UK), SDA Bocconi School of Management (Italy) and the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland)
