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A sports management course which attracts students from all over the world has been named the best of its kind in Europe for an unprecedented seventh year running.

The FIFA Master International MA in Management, Law and Humanities, co-ordinated by the Centre International d’Etude du Sport (CIES) in Switzerland, was also placed third in the world rankings of best-performing postgraduate sports management courses, rated annually by industry leader SportBusiness.



FIFA Master students spend three months at Â鶹´«Ã½ Leicester (Â鶹´«Ã½), the SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan and the Université de Neuchâtel in Switzerland.

The programme blends academic theory with experiential learning, including an extensive field visit programme. At Â鶹´«Ã½, the course is taught by the team at the International Centre of Sport History and Culture, where they study the history of sports and discuss topical issues and challenges facing the sports industry.

Professor Martin Polley, Director of Â鶹´«Ã½’s International Centre for Sports History and Culture and Co-Scientific Director for the FIFA Master, said: “All of us at the International Centre for Sports History and Culture and Â鶹´«Ã½ are delighted with this award. We see it as recognition of the consistent quality of the FIFA Master, and of the transnational partnership that underpins it.

“The Humanities of Sport module which we deliver as part of the course in Leicester is one of the programme's unique features, and we are proud of the ways in which this theme helps these amazing students to develop their historical and cultural awareness of sport”.



Alumni include Manchester United cult hero Park Ji-Sung and Emma Twigg, New Zealand double Olympian and World Champion sculler.

The course was created in 2000 to give a grounding in management education to leaders in the sports world. It has now established itself as one of the most respected in international sport business education.

The rankings are based on surveys completed by alumni who completed the courses in 2016, to allow time for them to have fully entered the workforce and reflect on the effects of their degrees.

Professor Pierre Lanfranchi, Co-Scientific Director, said: "The FIFA Master has changed my life in the 20 years I have been involved with it. I have had the chance to meet outstanding students, promising professionals – all of whom have seen how different cultures and different expectations could work together by listening to each other. Above everything, though, this course has showed to me that strong collaboration exists between academics, disciplines and visions of sport. Indeed, I have learnt a lot just from being involved in the FIFA Master from the first day of its existence." 

James Panter, module co-ordinator, said: “It is a privilege to work on such a flagship academic course at the university. To be ranked as the number 1 course in Europe for a record seventh time is great recognition of the hard work and commitment of everybody who works on the Master. It is also an outstanding endorsement of the quality of our graduates now working in international sport.”

The FIFA Master came third in the world rankings, pipped at the post by second place Ohio University, the world's oldest postgraduate sports administration degree. First place went to the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The FIFA Master boasts an active alumni association made up of more than 500 alumni working in sports businesses all over the world. Networking and contacts have proved invaluable to graduates who have found mentors and friends during their studies and beyond.