UCFB In The Hot Seat: Football Business course leader Matthew Macdonald

In the latest episode of our In The Hot Seat podcast series, course leader Matthew Macdonald talks of his journey from student to academic at UCFB.

Matthew, who originally studied BA (Hons) International Football Business at UCFB, is now our Manchester Campus’ course leader for BA (Hons) Football Business.

Speaking about his journey, Matthew said: “I joined UCFB as a student quite a few years ago now. I studied an undergraduate degree here at UCFB Manchester.

“I was here for three years, and I had an amazing time here. I really enjoyed all the different parts of my studies, and I’m not just saying that because I’m now here as an academic again now. I did genuinely enjoy it.

“It was what I wanted. I was always curious about the sport industry, the football industry. I just wanted more detail, wanted to understand where my career could go with it, and I got a really well-rounded experience.”

He added, speaking about how he gained experience on top of his degree: “It’s a laboured point that I’m making. I go on about this all the time in lectures, but when you come to university, you’re here to get the degree and here to get the knowledge and information, but actually, going into the job market, you need that experience as well.

“And I like to say that I practiced what I now preach in that when I came to UCFB, I went straight into a placement. I think it was in my first semester at level 4.

“So that was doing social media marketing for different fan club pages. I then went and worked for a football media tech startup company as well, doing different bits for them.”

Even though Matthew has gone from BA (Hons) International Football Business to BA (Hons) Football Business, he has still kept that passion for the global side of the game.

“Going into industry since UCFB,” he said, “I’ve worked now with professional football clubs and leagues across Europe, Africa, North America as well.

“I think that’s something that I’m really keen on explaining to students, that even if you’re studying here in the UK, in Manchester, this is a global industry.

“And we see some students with the idea of wanting to go work abroad, it makes complete sense for them to understand global cultures.

“And that’s something I’m really keen on getting students thinking about; how to work with people of different backgrounds, how to work with people of different cultures, and actually how to work with such a wide variety of people and still be successful and still be effective in the role.”

You can learn more about the UCFB graduates who have gone on to secure roles across the football and sports industry since graduating.

UCFB has many sports media-related degree courses, as well as degrees focusing on fields such as sports business and sports coaching. Find out more about them and take the first step towards your dream career in the industry.