It is with great pleasure that the MESGO team announces that Mr. Popovski – MESGO graduate, second edition – has now been appointed as General Secretary of the Football Association of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
The MESGO team wishes him all the best in his new position and every success for the future. We believe that the courses he undertook within the MESGO programme will help him address his future challenges.
The third edition of the Executive Master in European Sport Governance (MESGO) – a unique education programme for sports organisations’ elected representatives and managerial staff started on Monday 29 September 2014.
The French Football Federation (FFF) hosted the participants of the third MESGO cohort during one day as part of the first session in Paris.
Within the group of 23 participants in the third MESGO edition there are 19 different nationalities represented. The course comprises nine one-week seminars spread over 18 months and takes place in different European cities, and aims, amid an ever-changing environment in the sports industry, to provide its participants with a better understanding of the key current and future challenges faced by the sports sector, while also focusing on the European dimension involved. The last two sessions will take place outside Europe (New York and Rio de Janeiro), focusing on in-depth studies of other sports organisational models.
In his welcome speech at the Maison de l’Amérique latine on Monday 29 September, the Secretary General of FIBA Europe, Kamil Novak, said that MESGO is not only a fine example of collaboration between the worlds of academia and sport, but also a very real example of a project managed jointly by Europe’s major team sports. “This association brings together the European federations for basketball, football, handball, rugby and volleyball, as well as the International Ice Hockey Federation,” he said. “MESGO is unique because these federations, representing Europe’s top team sports, have been involved in the selection of the content used during the programme ever since its launch.
“No doubt, this explains the success that the programme has enjoyed among top sports executives in Europe and worldwide. In effect, this partnership guarantees that the topics covered are closely aligned with the concerns of sports federations and their partners. This course represents a tremendous platform not only for discussion and the exchange of knowledge between our respective federations, but also with representatives of other bodies such as national associations, clubs, governments or private organisations working in sport.”
“You have just started a long journey,” UEFA’s head of national association development Thierry Favre told the participants. “During the nine forthcoming sessions, you are going to meet incredible speakers – a mix of talented academics and very experienced professionals.”
During the first session in Paris dedicated to the context of international sport, the participants were hosted at the Executive Education Department of Sciences Po, at the French National Olympic Committee (CNOSF), at the French Football Federation (FFF), at Roland Garros and at the Maison de l’UNESCO.
Among the keynote speakers invited during that week to present different topics related to this session, the participants were lucky enough to meet Lindsey Eckhouse (NFL), Etienne Thobois (Keneo), Gilbert Ysern (French Tennis Federation) and Jérôme Valcke (FIFA).
The second session will take place in Switzerland from 17 to 21 November.
The MESGO team and UEFA are proud to announce that Pierre Lienhard, participant of the first MESGO program from 2010-2012, wrote a book co-authored with Prof. Dr. Holger Preuss. The book – An insightful text about legacy, sustainability and CSR at Mega Sport Events – has been published by the end of July 2014 at Springer Gabler. An Analysis of the UEFA European Football Championship 2008 in Switzerland with a foreword by Dr. h.c. Adolf Ogi, former President (1993 and 2000) and Federal Councillor (1988-2000) of the Swiss Confederation and former Special Advisor on Sport for Development and Peace to the Secretary General of the United Nations (2001-2007).
The UEFA European Football Championship 2008 (EURO 2008) was the largest sports event ever organized in Switzerland. The host nations Austria and Switzerland emphasized the sustainability of the event. Through their analysis the authors argue that well-known principles of sustainability and policy were not uniformly implemented for the EURO 2008. Nonetheless, this book shows how, in Switzerland, a legacy was created through the implementation of corporate governance and social responsibility policies by UEFA, the Swiss Government and the Swiss Football Association. This book offers an unprecedented resource for sports practitioners and researchers. It provides a wealth of data based on the study of existing scholarly literature, key strategic and conceptual documents as well as exclusive interviews with high-level executives involved in the organization of EURO 2008.
The preface written by Dr. h.c. Adolf Ogi , the table of contents and some sample pages can be downloaded at the bottom of this page.
The list of the participants who have been selected for MESGO III is now available here.
IMPORTANT : Extension of the deadline for the applications to MESGO III: until Friday 25 April at midday (Paris, GMT+1)
After 9 sessions over 18 months, the second Executive Master in European Sport Governance (MESGO) course has been completed with 17 graduates receiving their certificates at the graduation ceremony in Nyon, at the UEFA headquarters.
“I hope you have found MESGO enriching”, declared UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino to the graduates. “A Master’s programme like this is absolutely necessary in today’s sporting world. He added: “Good governance is not only about taking decisions, but also assuming responsibility in taking decisions. I hope you have become aware of this in the past 18 months. MESGO acts as a benchmark that will help shape the future of sport. UEFA is very proud to contribute to this programme, and we are also learning a lot from the other team sports federations who are involved.”
Star guest speaker at the ceremony was the former athlete from the United Kingdom, Colin Jackson, whose outstanding career, in particular as a 110-metre hurdler, brought him an impressive array of world, European and domestic records and an Olympic silver medal. Colin Jackson gave a stirring keynote motivational speech to the graduates, speaking of the need for personal focus, commitment, discipline and responsibility – elements that he had been taught as a young teenage athlete and which helped contribute to his later successes.
Two participants of the course stressed MESGO’s importance. “To have these studies is a once-in-a-lifetime chance,” said Football Union of Russia deputy CEO Ekaterina Fedyshina. “We have all had the chance to step back from our daily work and reflect on our sport’s direction and long-term vision – and we have learned important knowledge from experts,” added European Club Association (ECA) head of public and international affairs David Frommer.
Applications are being invited until 15 April 2014 for the third edition of MESGO, online.
The ninth MESGO II session, dedicated to the future of sport governance, took place in Munich, Germany, from 3 to 6 February.
Being the last MESGO II session, the week was rather special, with two days dedicated to a workshop on the topic of “Imagining the future of sports in society”, coordinated by Dr Riel Miller, head of foresight at UNESCO. Earlier, the medium to long-term impacts on sport, the development of new technologies and the financial and economic situation in Europe had been examined. The future of football, sports governance and sports events were also the subjects of presentations by prestigious speakers. Finally, the vote of the people of Munich against a bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics was studied as an example of the role of the local population in major future events.
The session was hosted by FIBA-Europe, one of the MESGO sporting partners, as well as by the Allianz Arena, home of FC Bayern München.
Participants had the chance to attend the game between FC Bayern München and Eintracht Frankfurt and to enjoy beers and pretzels to celebrate handing over their professional theses.
The participants will present their theses and receive their diplomas at UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, on 13 and 14 March.
The eighth MESGO II session, dedicated to the North American model of sport, took place in New York (United States) from 18 to 22 November.
Focusing on the governance and regulation of North American sport, this week-long session was an opportunity to look closely at the five major professional leagues in the United States – the National Hockey League (NHL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Soccer (MLS), the National Football League (NFL) and Major League Baseball (MLB) – with the MESGO group being hosted by a different league each day.
The regulatory tools of each league (such as salary caps, the draft and revenue-sharing systems), collective bargaining mechanisms and issues relating to competition law were tackled by prestigious speakers such as David Stern and Don Garber, the commissioners of the NBA and MLS respectively. Among the other topics covered during the week were college athletics and the university sports system (NCAA), the organisation of an NBA franchise (looking specifically at the New York Knicks), the specific nature of the US Olympic marketing and the peculiarities of NASCAR.
Participants also had the chance to visit prestigious sports venues such as Madison Square Garden and Yankee Stadium. The next and final MESGO session will take place in Munich (Germany) from 3 to 6 February 2014 and will be dedicated to the future of sport.
The seventh session in this second edition of the MESGO, focusing on ethics in sport, took place in Mainz and Frankfurt from 23 to 27 September.
While considering all kinds of ethical challenges associated with sport nowadays, session 7 in particular tackled the issues of corruption in sports organisations, match-fixing, the fight against doping, the integration of diverse minority groups such as disabled athletes and the need for greater sustainability in sport, as well as ethical questions concerning the athletes themselves.
The five days of this session were each hosted by a different academic or sports institution: the University of Mainz (MESGO academic partner), the German Football Association (DFB), 1. FSV Mainz 05 (Coface Arena), Germany’s second public-service television broadcaster (ZDF), and the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB).
Session 7 also included the last case studies the participants would have to present, the completion of which could then be celebrated with local beers and wines.
The next session will take place in New York City in November, when the North American model of sport will be studied in depth.
The sixth MESGO II session, focusing on sports events, took place in Barcelona from 17 to 21 June.
On the programme for the week were presentations on attracting and bidding for sports events, creating and designing a new event, facility management, risk management and crisis communication, the economic impact of sports events and their legacy, and the importance of knowledge transfer between different editions of a sports event.
In addition, some of the major sports events to have taken place in Barcelona were studied in detail, starting with the 1992 Summer Olympic Games. There were also presentations on the Euroleague Final Four (basketball), Formula One and MotoGP events, the Barcelona World Race, the FINA World Swimming Championships, the Barcelona X-Games and the men’s Handball World Championship.
Sessions took place at the INEFC (National Institute of Physical Education of Cataluña) (Montjuïc), the Euroleague Basketball Office, Camp Nou (FC Barcelona’s stadium), the Circuit de Catalunya racetrack and Barcelona harbour.
The participants also had the opportunity to test their driving skills in a karting race and to visit Barcelona harbour on board a boat.
The next session will take place in Mainz/Frankfurt in Germany in September. The session will be dedicated to ethical challenges in sport.