Today I have been in Switzerland with Denis Oswald, Chair of the Coordination Commission, where I was Guest of Honour at the FIFA Masters Degree Ceremony.
The “FIFA Master” is a one year Masters degree in Management, Law and Humanities of Sport taught by three prestigious European universities: De Monfort University (Leicester, UK), SDA Bocconi School of Management (Milan, IT) and Neuchâtel University (Neuchâtel, CH). It was created by FIFA in 2000 and is coordinated by CIES (International Center for Sports Studies). Every year, approximately 30 postgraduates from 15 to 20 different nationalities, take part in this full-time course, which covers all the major issues that sports organisations face today, from social and ethical issues to the more traditional legal and business matters.
The Ceremony was held at Neuchatel University where Denis Oswald is the CIES Director and President of the International Scientific Committee. As Guest of Honour, I made a short speech and presented the students with their awards. The highest grade amongst the whole group went to a fellow Brit! The ceremony was followed by a reception with the students in the beautiful castle setting of Neuchatel and I was pleased to exchange the English rain for the hot and sunny Switzerland.
This new and highly qualified group will be looking to take up posts in sports administration. They will be much better equipped than the generation before to deal with the growing global complexity of sport.
On 1st July I was part of the London 2012 team that cycled the Tour de France stage from Greenwich to Canterbury. I learnt two things… 1) it is quite scary going fast on a bike with nothing but lycra to break your fall, and 2) sitting on a sharp, pointy seat for over nine hours gives you a nasty combination of a graze and a bruise. It raised my curiosity about how the professionals cope, so the following weekend I went to watch the Tour de France prologue time trial in central London.