The winners of the FIFA/CIES Network Prize for 2016 have just completed their award visit to Switzerland. During the special trip they had the opportunity to visit the CIES headquarters in Neuchâtel, meet the current “FIFA Master” students, discover the Home of FIFA in Zurich and greet the new FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
Olga Laeva, Daria Smirnova, Lev Fertelmeyster and Maksim Shipov travelled from Moscow to Switzerland and were joined by Marina Buyanova, the Scientific Director of the HSE/FIFA/CIES Executive Programme in Sports Management, as well as Dmitry Kuznetzov, who is Head of the Programme.
The Higher School of Economics (HSE) alumni visited the CIES headquarters which is located in the historic building of Palais DuPeyrou before presenting their project entitled “The 360º Academy: Development of a sports academy educational model” to the current “FIFA Master” students. It should be noted that Elena Bortnichek, the fifth member of the group, was unable to join her fellow winners in travelling to Switzerland… as she stayed in Russia to have a baby!
The next day, the winners were able to explore the picturesque region of Gruyère, before discovering some of the mysteries of the famous Swiss chocolate.
Their trip ended in Zurich where they received their diploma from FIFA President, Gianni Infantino and CIES Director, Denis Oswald. They then attended presentations by several FIFA managers on themes as diverse as communications, new reforms, human resources, development and marketing.
We send our congratulations to Olga, Daria, Elena, Lev and Maksim for the quality of their project work and for their enthusiasm in helping to shape the future of sport!