The 2016/17 football season saw Leicester City make their impressive debut in the Champions League, reaching the quarter-finals following their incredible title winning season the year before.
UCFB graduate Lino joined the club in November 2016, as the club was still glowing in its league win and beginning to frighten the established European elite. Before starting at the King Power Stadium though, Lino enjoyed a vital three-year work experience role with Burnley as a food and beverage assistant. There, he helped to set up corporate events on match days, as well as deal with high-end customers and corporate fans.
His time at Turf Moor, coupled with his BA (Hons) Football Business & Finance degree from UCFB, enabled him to then find full-time work at MK Dons as a customer service representative. Spending just over a year at the club, his roles varied from ticketing, unveiling a new kit, working with local clubs to encourage grassroots participation and coordinating match day mascots.
The opportunity then arose to join Premier League Leicester, just months after their famous title win. This was an opportunity too good to miss and Lino grabbed it with both hands. Lino now helps to plan match day operations for home fixtures and coordinate events for the club’s members. His role also entails working closely with the Foxes’ marketing team to help increase membership sales, dealing with daily membership enquiries quickly and efficiently and liaising with numerous suppliers and departments to help plan and organise unforgettable events for Leicester supporters.
Lino counts the rebrand of the supporters’ membership scheme for the 2017/18 season as one of his biggest achievements so far, and travelling to Atletico Madrid for Leicester’s Champions League quarter-final tie as a club representative a personal highlight.
Lino said: “A sport-specific education is important because it gives you the understanding of how sport works – there are so many different areas to consider within any sport as a business. My role is very different to a usual job because football is dependent on results on the pitch which we cannot control, so that makes the position more exciting and challenging.”
