ZURICH – IIHF President René Fasel was among a distinguished group of speakers called upon to address participants in the first session of the Masters in European Sports and Governance (MESGO), a unique programme tailored for executives coming from the European sport landscape.

Launched by five universities internationally recognised in the field of sport governance, the MESGO welcomed in September its second cohort in Paris. Among the graduates of the first cohort held earlier this year was IIHF General Secretary Horst Lichtner.

Twenty participants, managers and executives coming from all over Europe (Russia, Spain, Italy, Macedonia, Lithuania, Denmark, etc.) and from Qatar, will benefit from nine one-week sessions and cover the main stakes that the sport industry faces nowadays: ethics, marketing, European legal framework, sports events. A session in New York City will also allow the participants to make comparisons with the North American model where governance emerged in a very different context and history. The first session in Paris fulfilled three objectives:

- to give an overview of the international sports environment at institutional, legal and economic levels.

- to show that the established worldwide and pyramidal organisation of sport, and some of its characteristics, make it a rather special economic "product".

- to take a more focused look at the European sports model and consider, specifically, the governance of sport.

Along with Fasel, speakers included the UEFA General Secretary, Gianni Infantino, the FIFA Secretary General, Jerome Valcke and Maurizio Gherardini, Vice President of basketball operations of the Toronto Raptors (NBA).

ADAM STEISS