MESGO session at UEFA

UEFA has welcomed participants in the Executive Master in European Sport Governance (MESGO) programme for a working session at the House of European Football in Nyon, where it explained the vision and values that guide the European governing body.

The MESGO programme is open to elected representatives and managerial staff working in sports organisations, and is intended to serve and benefit the European sports movement. Participants were also in Geneva and Lausanne for sessions focused on sporting bodies, and in Nyon were given an insight into how UEFA functions, in terms of its structures and decision-making processes.

In presentations, UEFA representatives described, among other things, UEFA's political and administrative organisation. They defined UEFA's vision of a united European football family working together to improve the enjoyment of the game – and its mission to create the right conditions for the game to prosper and develop.

UEFA highlighted its objectives as stipulated in its statutes – including promoting, monitoring and controlling European football's development; ensuring sporting values always prevail over commercial interests; fostering unity among member associations in matters relating to European and world football; making sure the needs of the different stakeholders in European football (leagues, clubs, players, supporters) are properly taken into account; maintaining good relations and cooperating with the world body FIFA and the other continental confederations recognised by FIFA; and redistributing revenue generated by football in accordance with the principle of solidarity, while supporting reinvestment in favour of all levels and areas of football, especially the grassroots of the game.

Participants were also briefed about the eleven values that serve as the basis for UEFA's activities and dialogue with the political, economic, social and sporting worlds, as well as the UEFA committee, competition and administration structures. During the afternoon session, UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino joined Michele Centenaro, general secretary of the European Club Association (ECA) and Damian Hopley, chairman of the International Rugby Players' Association (IRPA), for a round-table discussion on the governance of sport organisations and stakeholder representation.

During their week in western Switzerland, MESGO students visited the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The aim was to give delegates understanding of the institutional structure of the international sports movement, and to enable them to place their own organisation within this movement, finding common characteristics with other sporting and non-sporting institutions with regard to governance, missions and funding.

The MESGO programme has been pioneered by five renowned universities, and comprises nine one-week sessions over a period of 18 months, starting each September. It features courses in Paris, Brussels, London, Barcelona, Mainz/Frankfurt, Geneva/Lausanne and New York. The course has been established and is delivered by a number of academic bodies: Birkbeck Sports Business Centre, Birkbeck College, University of London; Centre de Droit et d'Economie du Sport, Université de Limoges; Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz; Institut Nacional d'Educació Física de Catalunya, University of Lleida; and Sciences Po, Paris.

In addition, team sport partners – UEFA; the European Handball Federation (EHF); the International Basketball Federation, Europe (FIBA – Europe); the European Rugby Association (FIRA-AER); the European Volleyball Confederation (CEV); and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) – are giving their support.