Sydney FC links with SEDA to run Sport & Business Program

Sydney FC are now accepting applications for the Sport & Business Program, with a one-year dual-diploma on offer.

Powered by SEDA Group, the Sydney FC Sport & Business Program will give students a chance to study in a practical and hands-on environment at Sydney FC.

The diploma will cost students around $14,000 for the year, with four face-to-face days of training and assessment set to take place each week, inclusive of facilitated online delivery for some subjects. Students are also required to complete 80 hours of practical placement in the industry.

Among the benefits, students will develop skills and knowledge across a variety of areas including sponsorship, project and event management, talent identification, social media and marketing. They will connect and learn from Sydney FC’s sports industry experts, coaches and elite players, providing a glimpse into the business elements involved in running a football club.

Students can study a curriculum matched to their interests, complete a practical placement, run major projects, and participate in football-specific high-performance activities which are all designed to further develop skills and experience.

Australian Professional Leagues (APL) and Sydney FC Chief Executive Officer Danny Townsend believes the program will open the door for some of the best young business minds in the country to come through.

“We’ve been working with SEDA now for a long time in a secondary school education program, and we felt that providing a tertiary extension to that would allow for more young, aspiring sports people to get into the game,” he said.

“We’re in the process of building our Centre of Excellence at Macquarie Park, and now we are able to utilise that facility to deliver this program in partnership with SEDA.

“We felt that it was the right time to do it, particularly with the Women’s World Cup coming, to also give young females the opportunity to engage in sports business.

Townsend was excited to use the new program as a tool to engage with and identify talent outside of their current way of recruiting stuff which was dependent on volunteers or internships.

“They will come out of that program with an understanding of the club’s inner workings and therefore be able to integrate if we need a role filled,” he said.

“But equally, we see it as a pathway to get some of these students into university.

“We are fortunate that we have a great relationship with the University of New South Wales and we’re working with them to determine how this program can bridge into a full-fledged degree.”

In comparison to what’s already available for sports-business education, Townsend sees more that can be done in specific areas.

“Academic education is great, and it’s important, but equally, having that practical experience goes a long way to really rounding future employees for any sporting landscape.

“Being able to do a course like this gives you exposure to every component of the runnings of a professional sporting club.”

Applications are open to all eligible year 12 graduate students, with the program set to begin in January 2022. You can find all details and register here.

The serious waves Series Futsal have made and what it means for the sport

Football within Victoria in a broad sense is difficult to unpack from multiple angles. What is clear is the passion displayed by fanatics.

Although not a traditional form of football, it’s cousin futsal has slowly emerged as a popular indoor sport that has abundance of opportunity within Australia’s major futsal organisation, Futsal Oz.

Futsal Oz has been the manifestation of the football extraordinaire Peter Parthimos, who founded the entity in 2006. When discussing with Peter in regards to why he created Futsal Oz, he discussed how he wished to unify people, provide competitive competitions to those who played the sport, all the while providing opportunity to those who want to play on a leisurely level all the way to a professional level.

Despite having a turbulent tenure throughout the global pandemic in 2020. Futsal Oz came out of Covid-19 with a newly furbished Futsal court fit for its most talented players. The court resides in their Thomastown location. Series Futsal is currently the highest level of futsal across the country and features abundance of Australia’s most coveted football players.

Melbourne-owned Sport Recreational Wear manufacturer AKU is a proud partner, with many women’s and men’s series sides opting to use AKU as a kit sponsor. The company also designed and created kits which were featured in the monthly major event in Thomastown, combining the best players across the Series Futsal competition to represent their respective ethnicities. The event was broadcasted on FireTv, a subsidiary to American-Bulgarian Company TrillerTv, who specialise in combat and European Sport streaming. Melbourne born Commentator Michael Schiavello spearheaded the broadcast acting as executive producer.

Each Wednesday and Friday the competitions are streamed live via YouTube and its independently ran application “Wefroth”, allowing its humble yet passionate fanatics to watch each round of Series Futsal unfold.

Through the running of competitions and the opportunities it sets through broadcast, futsal is in a healthy position.

Feyenoord secure record shirt sponsorship deal with MediaMarkt

German electronics retailer MediaMarkt will become the new shirt sponsor of Dutch club Feyenoord for the 2024-25 season in a record multi-year deal.

The two parties have agreed a three-year deal – through to the conclusion of 2026-27 – believed to be worth around €20 million (AU$33.1 million) in total, according to Dutch outlet De Telegraaf.

The company will replace EuroParcs which has been featured on the front of the Eredivisie club shirts since 2021.

MediaMarkt is a German multinational chain of stores selling consumer electronics with over 1000 stores in ten countries in Europe. The company is one of the largest sellers of electronics in Europe with a total of nearly 2.1 million products sold in 2023.

MediaMarkt’s head office is in Rotterdam and the company became convinced of the collaboration after gaining insight into various data about Feyenoord that suggests large growth is imminent.

It became attractive for the company because Feyenoord has gained a greater reputation not only nationally, but also internationally through long, reasonably successful participations in the Conference League, the Europa League and also the group stages of the Champions League.

As a result of this on-field success, the MediaMarkt partnership would be the Dutch clubs most lucrative shirt sponsorship deal which follows on from a record kit supply deal signed by Feyenoord last year with Castore, a UK sportswear brand.

Feyenoord have been winning off the field as well, recording record net revenue numbers in two of the last four years, including the 2022/2023 season which amounted to €99 mil (AU$164.2 mil), a thirteen percent increase on the previous year.

In domestic shirt sales, they ranked third last season behind PSV and Ajax but are projected to overtake PSV in 2023/24 after their recent league success.

Feyenoord has a tradition of long-term contracts with main sponsors, MediaMarkt will only be the eighth big name on the shirt. More than half a century ago in 1982, the Gouden Gids was the first shirt sponsor.

This deal is proof of Feyenoord’s incredible growth on and off the pitch with their marketing and trophy successes. MediaMarkt hopes to grow further by investing in Feyenoord’s upward trajectory, located right near their main headquarters.

Most Popular Topics

Editor Picks

Send this to a friend