AIFF’s Masters Football Management programme entrance exam goes online amid coronavirus

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The AIFF Masters Football Management Programme is the country’s flagship international one-year post graduate course implemented across three cities — New Delhi (AIFF office), Mumbai (St. Xaviers College) and Cadiz in Spain. India and ATK left-back Pritam Kotal said he would like to take up the course after he call it quits.

“AIFF Masters is a first-of-its-kind project taken by any of the country’s sporting federations and it’ll surely help the enthusiastic youngsters to pursue a professional career in sports, especially football. Indian Football is expanding and this initiative by AIFF will prove to be a pathbreaking one in the near future,” the 26-year-old said.

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“After hanging my boots, I’ll surely give it a shot to pursue a professional career in football administration per se. As a player, I have learnt the challenges that we face and in the future, I’ll look to work on them. AIFF Masters is a course which will help us get a clear view of football administration and operations.”

The students of this programme get a chance to spend a month in Cadiz, Spain, to experience and learn how a European football club is managed first hand. The AIFF has signed an MoU with the club that plays in Spanish second division for this arrangement.

A stint with a UEFA-recognised club, which is fully paid for by the federation, gives a student a chance to obtain intensive and extensive experience in European club management, marketing, player management, scouting, analysis and operations.