A day never to forget for the FIFA Master 24th edition class as they are welcomed by the FIFA President to Zurich

Thursday 18th April 2024 is a day the FIFA Master 24th edition class will never forget as they had the pleasure and honour to be joined at FIFA House in Zurich by FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, for what was a truly inspirational field visit.

The day is organised during the Sports Law module of the course and is always a key moment in the life of each edition, as it allows students to listen to talks from senior FIFA Managers and to learn more about the work and activities of one of the most important international sporting federations in the world.

On arrival, the class was met by the former Swiss men’s national team goalkeeper, Pascal Zuberbühler. Capped 51 times for his country, he was a member of the Switzerland squad for Euro 2004, 2006 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2008. He was joined by FIFA Public Relations Manager, Honey Thaljieh, who is a graduate from the 12th edition of the FIFA Master and who kindly assisted with the visit arrangements for the class.

As part of a busy programme of speakers, the class had the opportunity to attend presentations by FIFA staff who represented departments such as Corporate Communications, Member Associations, Brand and Creative Services, Women’s Football and Development, Football Technology and Innovation, Technical Development and Human Resources as well as meet alumni of the FIFA Master programme who are now working at the organisation. All of the speakers kindly allowed time for questions from the class. This was then followed by a special behind the scenes tour of the impressive FIFA House building.

Unfortunately, the planned Class v. FIFA staff football match had to be postponed due to heavy snowfall, but this will be rescheduled for later in the summer to ensure the tradition continues!

After a well-deserved dinner and the chance to reflect overnight on the talks they had attended, the class began day two of their stay in Zurich with the opportunity to visit the FIFA Museum. This provided the chance for the class to explore the vast collection of football artefacts and to also visit the FIFA Documentation Centre. This will provide another important resource as the class continue work on their Final Projects. 

CIES would like to warmly thank FIFA for hosting the 24th edition class of the FIFA Master and for making the visit such a special day. We are extremely grateful to FIFA and President Gianni Infantino for the continuous support of CIES activities and our students. Thank you also to Honey Thaljieh for hosting the class throughout the day.

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).