BA (Hons) International Football Business

You will learn how different factors have influenced the development of the football business. It is essential that future students understand the framework within which all football-related institutions coexist and the unique role that clubs play in society which creates an environment that distinguishes football business from other industries.

International football business and management is heavily depended on contemporary football law, rules, regulations and guidelines. Football law and regulations have arguably become fundamental to football culture. This module is a review of the main regulatory aspects and cases of international football. It is addressed to future football professionals who want to create a sound base of knowledge. It will introduce you to the challenges and controversies facing football and the law and how they interact. Basic football laws, regulations and guidelines are important and crucial for your career. According to our industry experts in International football business, almost everything in international football business and governance comes to rules and regulations. Football regulations cross over horizontally all the main areas of international football stakeholders, business and negotiations (sporting, governance, competitions, commercial and marketing deals, club secretariat, player transfers, club acquisitions, other). Traditionally most of the International football leaders have at least some theoretical or practical law and regulatory background. You need to become the next top International Football Business Leaders and this module will be a significant boost.

In order for you to achieve your university and future workplace goals, you need to be aware of a number of personal qualities and behaviours that can impact your ability to succeed. It is also important that you understand the industry and societal context in which you plan to work. This module aims to introduce you to personal and professional factors relevant to employment in the sport industry, and to enhance your awareness of the industrial landscape. Additionally, it will support you in developing some essential academic skills for higher education (such as academic writing and referencing). The module will introduce you to a wide range of perspectives, philosophies, and principles of critical and ethical thinking which will equip you with the competencies and confidence to achieve your academic and employability goals.

This module aims to introduce you to models of marketing communications through a series of lectures and seminars. The module will provide you with an understanding of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) models, core concepts and theories. Marketing communications with stakeholder groups has become a core sports business activity. It not only spans between the sports organisation and its customers but the way such business activities are communicated with internal and external stakeholders by using a variety of online/offline channels. To do this you will study specialist areas, relating to above and below the line communications methods, and use of technologies in advertising. This will be demonstrated throughout the semester with active briefs which will highlight multi-disciplinary channels used to communicate and your practical use of these.

This module aims to enable you to demonstrate your understanding of the role of the accounting function in an organisation and the importance of internal controls in minimising the risk of loss. This module will build on the knowledge and understanding gained from Introduction to Football Finance. Having taken this module, you will have gained a greater appreciation and understanding of the accounting system and the impact it has on all areas of an organisation. You will be introduced to a variety of internal controls designed to support the accounting system and reduce the chance of fraudulent activity by internal organisational stakeholders and external parties. In addition, you will also be introduced to the audit function (both internal and external) and how it supports the integrity of accounting information.

The utilisation of the Sporting Director position represents one strategy for organisations to improve both on and off-field performance success through maintaining organisational influence and control. The Sporting Director is the custodian of the club’s sporting performance and is the person employed by the owner or board to be the guardian of the club’s future, to protect their investment and bring on-field success through effective leadership and decision making in the short, medium and long-term. Throughout this module you will learn about the intertwining factors that form the Sporting Director role and understand this position is not limited to recruitment or talent identification, it is whether they master the networks and relationships they operate within.

As an international football business and relations professional you will find yourself working with various football organisations in a complex global environment (Confederations, Associations, Leagues, Clubs, agencies and associated businesses in the wider sports business ecosystem. This module analyses international football organisations from a functional perspective, considering the roles, operations and challenges impacting on the international business environment. The purpose of the module is to enable you to become more familiar with key international football business functions and indicators of the different confederations, football associations and leagues around the world, working in the global football ecosystem. You will be able to appraise, compare and question their challenges. You will also be able to identify opportunities and their connection with their respective business environments.

Studying this module will develop your knowledge and appreciation of how globalisation shapes the thinking of football related entities in different organisational and environmental settings. You will learn how socio-political, cultural, ethical and economic drivers intertwine to influence global sporting ecosystems You will also be able to critically evaluate how different football stakeholder groups are impacted by the shift towards homogenous ‘Global’ ecosystem behaviours. The module will provide you with theoretical concepts and relevant contemporary thinking for undertaking this analyses, considering ‘authentic’ consumer behaviour patterns, and identifying the best method to establish a global pathway for any football related organisation.

Following on from your previous training regarding personal qualities and behaviours that can impact your ability to succeed, this module focuses on developing your practical skills relevant to a workplace environment. This module will ask you to apply your knowledge and personal skillset to problem-based learning scenarios, and live projects. You will learn project management skills, develop your personal pragmatism, and enhance your industry-based interests and understanding. You will work both as part of a team and independently, developing essential aspects of your emotional, social, and professional self.

As a practitioner in your discipline you will be required to engage in evidence-based practice. This module supports your ability to become an evidence-based practitioner by providing you with an introduction to the processes involved in conducting research within your discipline and equipping you with the skills and knowledge to be able to critically analyse the work of others. This module will build on skills and knowledge which you will have acquired throughout your course so far, and has been designed to prepare you for conducting your own independent project as part of the Professional Project module at Level 6. Specifically, this module will enable you to gain an applied understanding of the research process. This will involve identifying a contemporary industry-relevant issue; developing project aims and objectives; understanding reflexivity and the role you play in the design and execution of a project; understanding methodologies and different methods of data collection, analysis, and interpretation; and appreciating the importance of ethical practice. The delivery of this module will be facilitated by your engagement in a research project to investigate contemporary industry-relevant issues.

Introduction of new technologies into marketing strategies within last two decades have rapidly changed the industry and how it is marketed to the customer. Marketing managers in sports institutions around the world currently utilise any innovation and technologies development to improve the commercial performances. Technology also plays an important role in developing marketing strategies. This module will help to understand what has changed within sports industry from marketing perspective and get a knowledge of current trends.

This module completes a general coverage of the core management accounting concepts, skills and techniques. It also provides a useful set of concepts, skills and techniques for all potential managers in organisations, for those who wish knowledge and skills beyond cost management applications. The module focuses on the use of accounting information in facilitating and influencing managerial decisions in organisations, with particular focus on the growing and evolving sporting industry. You will be introduced to the use of management accounting information to support managerial decisions and control various aspects of an organisation. It emphasises decision and control issues in a contemporary environment and introduces appropriate decision and control concepts, techniques and skills. It also emphasizes the ways in which accounting information can be used to understand and make decisions about the operational and strategic management of an organisation, and to control the implementation and ongoing management of such decisions.

Studying this module will develop your knowledge and appreciation of strategic management in different organisational and environmental settings. You will learn how strategic thinking and planning is applied within football (grassroots/professional) and sporting ecosystems. You will also be able to critically evaluate how leadership approaches support strategy expectations. The module will provide you with theoretical concepts and relevant tools for undertaking strategic analyses, considering strategic choices and making strategic recommendations for any sports related organisation.

This module provides the intellectual foundations to the study of football law by examining the historical and contemporary debates concerning the relationship between football and law. The module provides an introduction to how football is regulated and how football organises itself. Aspects of criminal law, negligence and employment law, and their application to football is examined. Legal issues particular to the football industry are analysed, including match fixing and integrity. The interaction between human rights and football is considered in this module as well.

This module provides you with the opportunity to synthesise the knowledge and skills you will have developed during the course of your studies and independently design, develop and execute an individual professional project. This project aims to investigate an original contemporary industry-relevant issue and will be a platform through which you will demonstrate the knowledge, skills, understanding and expertise you have developed in your discipline thus far. It is expected that your project output will contribute to industry practice and/or academic and practitioner knowledge. To achieve this, you will investigate an original contemporary industry-relevant issue and make judgments on the basis of sound evidence and therefore, the project will be research- and inquiry-based. The project will be directly relevant to your course and will be produced and disseminated in the format best suited to the project aims and to developing a career of your choice. The project will build on the L5 Research Methods assessment and you will be working closely with a project supervisor who will provide guidance and support throughout your project.

As an international football business and relations professional you will find yourself consulting and working within various international football competitions, biddings for events and consulting general events and projects such as Olympic Football tournaments, FIFA World Cups, national teams’ competitions, elite clubs’ competitions and tournaments, leagues and championships, cups, exhibition and promotional events, international tours, pre and mid-season preparation trainings, youth tournaments, professional football and youth development projects. You may undertake project management roles in Confederations, Associations, Leagues, Clubs, match agencies, constructing facilities, event management and consulting companies. This module shows to you how to design, construct, assess and evaluate international football events and other general projects that impact the operational running of sports related organisations (e.g. social enterprise, community and CSR engagement opportunities). This module is also related to the increasing importance of commercial activities run by sports related organisations e.g. fan zones and engagement, corporate and partner offerings.

Following on from your previous training regarding personal qualities and behaviours that can impact your ability to succeed, this module focuses on practical application of that knowledge during a workplace visit. Until now, your modules have provided learning opportunities about the industry and societal context in which you plan to work. This module aims to introduce you to a workplace environment. Doing so will allow you to enhance your awareness of the industrial landscape through experience. This module creates a space for you to apply competencies developed in your modules to date to a real-life setting, leading to experiential and reflective learning.

This module will provide you with the opportunity to identify the skills, competencies and experience required for successful development to embarking on their university degree and successfully completing it and progressing on to a range of potential future career areas. Central to the developmental process is for you to cultivate the reflective skills, openness and self- awareness to enable you to assess what you are doing, identify areas for improvement, and confidently receive and give constructive feedback.

This module will provide you with the opportunity to identify the skills, competencies and experience required for employment. This will support you in your ‘transition’ from school, college or the work place towards degree level study. You will begin to recognise the areas for your own personal professional development (including emotional, social, physical, cultural and cognitive intelligences) through taught and workshop activities. This will allow you identify attributes that are important to develop that are important for your career in the sports professional related to your programme.

The module will introduce you to the research processes when undertaking a project within your field of study. You will explore the important ethical considerations when planning and conducting a research project safely to analyse a problem or question specific to your subject area. This will require you to utilise and apply key research skills alongside selecting appropriate methods to collect data and report significant findings regarding your research question.

This module introduces you to many of the challenging and complex contemporary issues faced in the rapidly changing and demanding, world of sport. It will allow you to build and consolidate knowledge, through understanding of key issues within the broad arena of sport in a discursive manner that will underpin your future work. You will be encouraged to research events, themes and issues that have affected the world of sport and, in some cases, changed the structure and behaviour of the sports industry.

This module will introduce you to the foundations towards a range of concepts and models related to understanding and managing people, work and behaviour in national and international football related organisations. In order to identify and explain how clubs operate and are organised from a commercial and sporting perspective, while preparing an interactive resource (eg. Podcast, website, visual or audio resource) undertaking an examination of a clubs use of the marketing function to engage with audiences.

This module will introduce you to the framework within football finances and the decision-making process of clubs, players and agents while applying this to the context of international football. You will examine key principles of leadership styles in management. This will allow you to identify and develop management knowledge and understandings. You will analyse which leadership styles are considered to be successful in the business management of others.