2021

In 2021, as in 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic posed many challenges to the world of sport. Building on the lessons learned from 2020, CIES consolidated the innovations and approaches put in place during the first year of the pandemic, such as the organisation of highly successful webinars but also expanded its range of services in all of its business areas.

On the educational activities side, the FIFA/CIES International Programme in Sports Management expanded from seventeen to nineteen programmes worldwide, adding Puerto Rico and Colombia.

The FIFA Master class had the honour of FIFA Secretary General Ms. Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura as Patron of their edition. The year 2021 also marked the 20th anniversary of the programme, a year late due to the pandemic. This milestone was commemorated with conferences, debates and a football tournament held at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich. Thank you to FIFA for welcoming us to its home.

For three years now, CIES, in close cooperation with FIFA, has organised executive training programmes, aimed in particular at football association executives. In 2021, these programmes underwent significant development, and new versions were designed at FIFA's request for the specific needs of its member associations. In this way, CIES has contributed to the management training efforts of senior executives and other managers from FIFA member associations in Asia and Oceania (after the football associations of South America, the Caribbean and Africa received courses from 2019-2020).

With passion and dedication, CIES joined forces with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and the FIFA Museum to create the very first history book of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup™. This unique publication traces the incredible journey of the competition from its very first edition in 1975, highlighting its growth, iconic moments, and the inspiring rise of women’s football across Asia. The book is a celebration of pioneers, progress, and the power of the game to bring people together.

As part of its Savoirs Sportifs collection, the CIES published a book exploring the history of skiing—focusing in particular on how a practice that originated in Scandinavia managed to cross borders, take root, and eventually flourish throughout continental Europe.

2022

The year 2022 was punctuated by global sporting events. First with the Winter Olympics in China, then, as the year drew to a close, with the FIFA Men’s Football World Cup in Qatar.

Ten is the number of Best European Postgraduate Master awards won by the FIFA Master in the eagerly awaited annual ranking of sports management study programmes, which evaluates over 900 courses worldwide. We were also delighted that the class for the 22nd edition had the privilege to have Ms. Emma Twigg, a graduate from the 15th edition of the FIFA Master and gold medalist in rowing at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Our Executive Education Team launched a programme for FIFA Member Associations in the Americas, in parallel with a similar programme for the Asia-Oceania region. CIES was also involved in the delivery of other programmes developed by FIFA. The FIFA Diploma in Football Law which is offering specialised training for football lawyers and The Next 90 Programme which aims to provide retired footballers with the relevant tools to manage their career transition.

In 2022, 850,000 visitors logged almost 2.3 million views on the CIES Football Observatory website. Its Monthly Reports and Weekly Letters provide interested parties, such as the media and the general public, with a wealth of information, much of it unpublished and based on rigorous and innovative analysis of football facts. This information is relayed by generalist and specialist media around the world, who rightly regard the Observatory as an essential reference point on the subjects it covers.

2023

For CIES, the year 2023 marked the start of a new four-year cycle of collaboration with our excellent long-standing partner, FIFA.

CIES and the FIFA Master 22nd edition class meet President Gianni Infantino during a visit to FIFA House in Zurich.

The CIES Football Observatory and CIES Sports Intelligence carry out numerous research projects on behalf of leading sports organizations such as FIFA, ECA (European Club Association), SAFF (Saudi Arabia Football Federation), FIBA and soccer clubs such as Ajax Amsterdam and Arsenal.

The influence of CIES on the sports industry can also be measured by a few figures: 59,391 text appearances citing CIES in media around the world and, even more impressively, over 116 million views if we add up all the views generated by the various CIES branches on social networks.

CIES offered more than ten conferences and roundtables, on topics ranging from “The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 as seen from inside” to “The Growth of Women's Football” and “Leveraging OTT Opportunities in Sport”.

2024

To mark its 30th anniversary, and so as to be able to cope with the challenges and fast changing trends faced by the sports industry, CIES unveiled a new refreshed website, which will accompany our research and executive education activities in this new era.

It features a wealth of new content, including expanded information on both the Research conducted by CIES which examines sport from multiple angles and also our top-level academic and executive programmes.85%

Indeed, on the educational side, the continuous success of the FIFA Master is demonstrated by the number of Best European Postgraduate Master awards won by our Flagship programme, which now stands at 12 times!

To mark this milestone, De Montfort University Leicester hosted a special conference titled ‘The Olympic Games in Focus’. Bringing together academics and alumni, the event explored various aspects of Olympic history—from early Black British athletes and the 1976 Winter Games to the enduring legacy of the 1924 Paris Summer Olympics—further underscoring the course’s global impact on sport.

Among the noteworthy publications in this period is Inventing the Boston Game: Football, Soccer and the Origins of a National Myth, which is a thought-provoking book by historians and collaborators Dr Kevin Tallec Marston and Prof. Mike Cronin, and published by the University of Massachusetts Press in Amherst. In addition, CIES Sports Intelligence produces an extensive report titled Club Ownership in European Football. This study explores investment patterns across clubs in the top ten ranked countries in Europe, covering both first and second divisions. By going beyond the top tier, the report provides a fresh and detailed perspective on the evolving landscape of club ownership throughout the continent.

2025

2025 will be a very special year for CIES. Indeed, it will mark both the 30th anniversary of its leading role in international sports education and research activities, and also the 25th anniversary of its flagship educational programme - the FIFA Master!

The FIFA Master now boasts over 700 alumni, representing more than 120 nationalities; 90% of them are active in the sports industry, including around 350 in the world of football, with 75 graduates now working directly at FIFA.

The FIFA Master now boasts over 650 alumni, representing more than 120 nationalities; 90% of them are active in the sports industry, including around 350 in the world of soccer, with 75 graduates now working directly at FIFA.

The results are not only quantitative, but also qualitative, as many alumni hold key positions in the organisations which now employ them. The efforts made by CIES to place students within the sector are bearing fruit and making a key impact on the development of sport business globally.

In addition, it still operates as the headquarters of the International University Network, now offering the FIFA/CIES Programme in Sports Management in 20 countries worldwide, following its expansion to Saudi Arabia. To date, more than 7,000 students - of whom almost 90% now work in sport and around 70% in football – have studied on the CIES International University Network course.

30 Years! Over the course of thirty years, CIES has grown into a leading sports knowledge hub in Switzerland and its outreach is firmly global. From the very start, CIES has been an active bridge between research, education and leading sports organisations.

By using law, sociology, geography, history and economics, CIES has tackled both key current issues and more general phenomena from a multi-disciplinary perspective. It provides research-based solutions to sport organisations actual needs.

This is, in part, what has made its sports research and education services so outstanding. CIES is proud of these many achievements: from the hugely successful FIFA Master programme to the FIFA/CIES International Programme in Sports Management and the prolific CIES Football Observatory.

It is also proud of the two latest additions to its portfolio: CIES Sports Intelligence and CIES Executive Education.

With a track record like this, we cannot help but look back at the past with great thanks, but also to the future with great enthusiasm!