It was a busy summer for one UCFB student who took advantage of his time away from Wembley to undertake four incredible different work placements around Europe.

UCFB Wembley student Thomas Freismuth, now in his second year studying BA (Hons) International Football Business, followed up his memorable week in Milan working for UEFA at the Champions League final in May with roles at Rally GibraltarRace, the Austrian F1 and Moto Grand Prixs, and at football club SK Rapid Vienna.

In June, Thomas took on the role of Media Officer for the successful Yamaha Team Austria at the Rally GibraltarRace, which kicked off in Athens before ending in the British territory two weeks later. In his time there, Thomas developed a social media strategy which saw an increase of 530% in reach, handled all media requests, and spent his time working closely with the race promoter and politicians including the Gibraltarian Minister of Sports Steven Linares.

Later that month, Thomas then spent a week at the Austrian F1 as an Assistant Accreditation Officer and Operations Assistant Officer. His duties included coordinating access accreditation, guaranteeing the smooth operation between operational teams onsite including the police and fire service and looking after the lost property service.

He followed that up with time at the Moto GP as Operations Assistant Manager, with over 200,000 people attending the various events over a fortnight. Here, Thomas planned and implemented various setups for the event.

To round off his busy summer, Thomas worked in the marketing and sponsorship teams at the biggest football club in Austria, Rapid Vienna. The club opened its new stadium over the summer, so it was a busy time for Thomas and everyone involved at the club.

In his time there Thomas attended home and away Bundesliga and Europa League games; helped with ticketing enquiries for partners and sponsors; prepared match-day activities to increase fan engagement; helped prepare the club’s new CRM strategy and assisted with Rapid’s social media channels and website.

Summing up his whirlwind summer, Thomas said: “It was one of the best summers of my life. I had the opportunity to work at the biggest sporting events and to learn from experts within the industry. I wouldn’t have thought, before coming to UCFB, that I would be working at the Champions League Final – one of my biggest dreams came true!

“My CV was almost empty before coming to UCFB but after just a year my CV is packed full with work experience. From the placements I also received very good reference letters from my employers, which will definitely help me in the future.”