From Monday 30 January to 3 February 2017, the MESGO IV participants were in Amsterdam for the third session of the programme, which was dedicated to the design and regulation of competitions.

Organised by Sean Hamil, director of the Birkbeck Sport Business Centre, which has been an academic partner of the MESGO programme since its first edition in 2010, this third session was aimed at examining the external regulatory functions of sports governing bodies, particularly how they apply to the design and regulation of competitions.

On 31 March and 1 April, 20 participants in the third edition of the MESGO programme defended their professional theses at UEFA headquarters.

Here are a few examples of the theses presented:

The ninth and final MESGO session of the current edition started on Sunday 28 February with a welcome event near Ipanema beach in Rio de Janeiro. The Escola Capoeira Cidadã association, headed by Mestre Curumim, organised a workshop with capoeira, a Brazilian martial art, and samba before a cocktail party with traditional Brazilian food and drink.

The CDES and the other partners of the Executive Master in European Sport Governance (MESGO) congratulates Edvinas Eimontas, graduated from the second edition of the programme, who has been elected as new president of the Lithuanian Football Association (LFF).

Edvinas Eimontas was the General Secretary of the FA since 2012 and now succeeds Julius Kvedaras, President since the same year. The 39-year-old new President has been working for the LFF since 2001.

The application process is now open for the fourth edition of the Executive Master in European Sport Governance (MESGO), which will start in September 2016.

MESGO is a unique programme designed for professionals in the sport sector wishing to improve their skills by mastering the complex dimensions and diversity of international practices related to professional sports governance.

How does it work?

From 4 to 8 October 2015 the MESGO III participants were in Germany for Session 7 of the programme. Jointly directed by Dr Holger Preuss, professor of sport economics and sport sociology at Johannes Gutenberg University (JGU) in Mainz, and Volker Bernardi, executive director of the World Flying Disc Federation (WFDF) and sports law lecturer at the same university, the session covered several topics related to ethics in sport, such as corruption, sport for disabled athletes, anti-doping and environmental sustainability.

MESGO III participants recently visited Barcelona for Session 6 of the programme. Francesc Solanellas and Andreu Camps i Povill, both professors at INEFC (the MESGO programme’s Spanish academic partner), organised the week-long session, which took place from 15 to 19 June and was dedicated to the subject of sports events. Guest speakers talked about national and international sports events such as the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the Euroleague Basketball Final Four, the Barcelona Open tennis tournament and the forthcoming Mediterranean Games (which are due to be held in Tarragona in 2017).

From 20 to 24 April 2015, the MESGO III participants are back in London for a session dedicated to strategic marketing. Thanks to the programme designed par Peter Willems, Head of Marketing Activities and Sponsorship at UEFA, they have the opportunity to attend several presentations by marketing experts specialised in various sectors, often beyond sport (Coca Cola, YouTube, IMG).

The UEFA MIP (UEFA Executive Master for International Players) is a new training course, delivered exclusively in English, to be started in November 2015.

The French Minister of Sport, Thierry Braillard, was welcomed by the Centre for the Law and Economics of Sport. On this occasion, a discussion was organised in the presence of Émile-Roger Lombertie (Mayor of Limoges), Gérard Vandenbrouke (President of the Limousin region), Hélène Pauliat (Vice-Chancellor of the University of Limoges), as well as some representatives of the sports movement: Denis Masseglia (President of CNOSF, the French Olympic Committee) and Francis Luyce (President of the French Swimming Federation).