Mahatma Education Society’s Pillai Group of Institutions, a Mumbai based not for profit trust that manages over 48 educational institutions in Maharashtra, recently partnered with CIES (The International Centre for Sports Studies, Switzerland), one of the world’s premium bodies for Sports Management Education, to conduct the prestigious FIFA/CIES Executive Program in Sports Management in India. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) towards this direction was signed on the 3rd of December 2018 in Mumbai by Mr. Pierre Cornu (President-CIES) and Dr. K.M. Vasudevan Pillai (Chairman-Pillai Group) in the presence of Mr. Vinod Tawde (Minister for Education and Sports – Government of Maharashtra), Mr. Bimal Parekh (Co-Owner – Mumbai City FC), Dr. Daphne Pillai (Secretary, Mahatma Education Society) and Mr. Franav Pillai (Director – FIFA/CIES Executive Programme in India)
FIFA (World’s Governing body of Football) along with CIES (International Centre for Sports Studies) established the FIFA/CIES University Network in the year 2004 ‘to give students the broadest possible vision of management in modern sports’. Its key objective, with the support of its academic partners, is to improve the skills of sports managers at the level of federations, clubs, small sports associations, government and municipal entities. The Network has a mission to create and develop partnerships in the field of sport management, with a desire to understand the real needs of their partners and to offer concrete solutions with a constant focus on excellence.
Today, FIFA/CIES has an established network for conducting their executive sports management program in 15 different countries in Asia, Africa, South America and Central America, as well as in the Caribbean, the Middle East and Europe. India is the 16th country in the global map to have such a program and Pillai will be the 1st Institute in South Asia to get an authorization for running such an initiative.
The program allows managers from various sports organizations to gain knowledge of management principles in fields such as marketing, sponsorship, finance and accounting, communication, management, law and event management.
Who is the FIFA/CIES Executive Programme intended for?
- Managers and individuals working in the sports world on a professional or amateur basis (e.g. national and international federations, continental organisations, NOCs, clubs, regional associations, ministries, municipalities) who are seeking to broaden or refresh their knowledge of sports management.
- Professionals from all backgrounds (e.g. legal practitioners, techies, economists, journalists) who wish to start working in sport and become familiar with the specialist aspects of the sports industry.
- Young graduates who wish to complement their existing academic training with a specific qualification in the field of sports management.
