New honorary fellows welcomed by UCFB at Class of ’25 graduation ceremonies

During the Class of ’25 graduation ceremonies, UCFB welcomed three new honorary fellows to our already esteemed list of individuals.

The honorary fellows were selected thanks to their work within the football and sports industries, as well as their visions and goals within the industry aligning with our aims and incentives.

In November, UCFB Manchester students saw their graduation ceremonies each welcome an honorary fellow.

The two new honorary fellows of UCFB announced at the event were:

Jane Purdon

Jane has decades of experience in the industry, working as a lawyer at Sunderland before becoming the Premier League’s first director of governance.

She held the same role at UK Sport before making a name for herself specifically in women’s football.

In the women’s game, she has previously been the CEO and director of Women in Football, where she now works as an ambassador, as well as sitting on the UK Government’s panel, reviewing the future of domestic women’s football, acting as the government’s advisor on the women’s game.

In 2024, she was awarded the Unsung Hero Award at the annual Women’s Football Awards.

Throughout her career, Jane has showed that she shares UCFB’s ambition and objective of increasing diversity across the sports industry, making the industry a place of equal opportunity for all, both on and off the field.

In her time at UK Sport, she co-authored the first edition of the Code for Sports Governance, with multiple groundbreaking regulations regarding diversity.

Moreover, in one of her many current roles across sport, Jane sits as chair at the Professional Game Academy Audit Company, providing pathways for both boys and girls into professional football.

Her ambition and views, as well as her incredible work across the industry, has made her a prime example of someone worthy to be a recipient of a UCFB honorary fellowship.

Mary Earps

With 53 England caps, 150 Women’s Super League appearances and a trail of trophies to go alongside, Mary Earps is one of the most recognisable names in women’s football.

Standing between the sticks for the Lionesses for eight years, she was instrumental in the historic victory at the 2022 European Championships.

With England, she also won the Finalissima and made it all the way to the 2023 World Cup Final.

In her club career, she won a Women’s FA Cup with Manchester United, as well as a Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal during her season-long stint in Germany playing for VfL Wolfsburg.

Furthermore, as an individual, Mary has won the World Cup Golden Glove, the Women’s Super League Golden Glove, has been included in the WSL Team of the Year twice, the FIFPRO Women’s World 11 twice, the UEFA Women’s Championship Team of the Tournament.

Adding to this, she has been named the Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper twice, England Women’s Player of the Year, BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year, Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year, the Women’s Football Awards World Cup Hero, and greatest of all, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2023.

Mary has helped raise the profile of women’s football in England to stratospheric heights. Her work on the pitch, at club and international level, has helped inspire millions of girls and young women desperate for that career in football.

At UCFB, we aim to make the football and wider sports industry a more diverse and opportune field for all. The awarding of this fellowship is a great step towards some incredible work we can do to achieve this.

At the UCFB Wembley graduation event in December, a further honorary fellow for UCFB was named.

Sean Cottrell

Sean is a key figure in sports law, having spent the last 15 years as chief executive of LawInSport, an organisation he co-founded back in 2010.

In this capacity, Sean has provided mentorship to multiple students on our BA (Hons) Sports Business and Sports Law course, offering them real industry insight while also providing them with a multitude of opportunities through mentoring and networking.

He has also come into our campuses and delivered talks to our students, sharing the knowledge he has gained over many years in the field while giving his advice and guidance on securing a role in sports law.

And it isn’t just through LawInSport that Sean has helped our students. At UCFB, our industry partnerships are essential to the service we provide, as we aim to give our students the skills, knowledge and experience to go forth and forge a career in their chosen area of the global sports industry.

Sean has acted as a catalyst for several partnerships we have across the sports law world, such as with the European Football Agents Association.

The awarding of this honorary fellowship shows all Sean has done for our students and the future of the sports law industry, one of the fastest growing areas within the modern world of sport.

We look forward to the further work we can conduct and the goals we can achieve alongside these new honorary fellows as we move forward into the next generation and era of the global sports industry.

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