Category Archives: Non classé

The Ninth and Final MESGO session in Silicon Valley.

MESGO VII, News, Non classé

The final session of the seventh edition of MESGO, dedicated to leadership and innovation, took place from 29 April to 2 May in Silicon Valley and San Francisco.

This session was led by Jean-Philippe Bonardi, Director of the Enterprise for Society Center and Full Professor at HEC Lausanne, University of Lausanne.

Jean-Philippe Bonardi, session director and Full Professor, HEC Lausanne.

Throughout the week, MESGO participants had the opportunity to attend the presentations at the following locations across Silicon Valley and San Francisco:

  • Plug and Play Tech Center
  • The Computer History Museum
  • Stanford University
  • Golden State Warriors – Chase Center

The session covered a wide range of topics related to innovation, leadership and sport. In particular, what creates an innovative ecosystem and its applicability to sport ecosystems; the current technology revolution and the opportunities created by technologies such as artificial intelligence, digital, metaverse, etc; how to develop an entrepreneurial and innovation mindset and how it is linked to leadership; how to manage innovation in an organisation.

A warm thank you to all the speakers for their high-quality contributions to the session!

At Plug and Play: Presentation about Disrupting Disruption by Pascal Finette, CEO, Be Radical.

At Plug and Play: Welcome speech by Saeed Amidi, CEO and Founder, Plug and Play.

At the Computer Museum: Presentation about How was the Silicon Valley eco-system built up? by Crystal Chang, Lecturer, University of California, Berkeley.

At the Computer Museum: Presentation about Silicon Valley: The view of a Venture Capitalist by Eric Buatois, General Partner, Benhamou Global Ventures.

At Stanford University: Presentation about Innovation start-ups – Large organisations versus start-ups by Sukemasa Kabayama, UPLIFT (and former manager at Apple and Tesla).

At Stanford University: Presentation about Developing an entrepreneurial mindset/Developing innovation beyond tech by Larry Keeley, Innovation Scientist, Keeley Innovations LLC & Former President and Co-Founder, Doblin Inc.

At the Golden State Warriors: Presentation about Golden State Warrior and the management of innovation by Daniel Brusilovsky, Vice President of Technology, Golden Gate Warriors.

At the Golden State Warriors: Presentation about Innovation mindset and purpose by Mike Geddes, Co-founder and Chief Purpose Officer, Oakland Roots.

Participants also enjoyed some fun social events, including a Guided Bike Tour of Silicon Valley and a Mixology Course.

The MESGO participants will meet again at the UEFA headquarters in Nyon on 3 and 4 October as part of the viva voce exam session, during which they will each defend their professional thesis. The graduation ceremony on Friday 4 October will mark the conclusion of the seventh edition of the programme.

Session 8 in New York – North American Model of Sport

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After six sessions in Europe and one in Asia, the MESGO team made their way to New York from 23 to 26 April 2024 to learn more about the North American sports model.

Co-directed by Francesc Solanellas, Professor of Sports Management at the National Institute of Physical Education (INEFC) and Jean-François Brocard, Associate Professor and Economist at the Centre for Law and Economics of Sport (CDES), this eighth session aimed to present the organisation of sport in North America from a legal, economic and sociological perspective.

Francesc Solanellas, session co-director and Professor of Sports Management, INEFC.

Jean-François Brocard, session co-director and Associate Professor and Economist, CDES Limoges.

During the four-day session, the MESGO group was hosted at key locations such as Major League Soccer (MLS), the National Basketball Association (NBA), St John’s University and Major League Baseball.

The participants had the opportunity to discuss with distinguished speakers the unique characteristics of the American sport system, such as salary caps, the draft and revenue-sharing systems, as well as the organisation and importance of North American college sports.

At the MLS: Presentation about Ethics and Values in Sports – Some Case Studies from the Soccer World & Elsewhere by Sunil Gulati (former President, U.S. Soccer Federation).

At the MLS: Presentation of the NWSL by Tatjana Heanni (Chief Sporting Director, National Women’s Soccer League).

At the NBA: Presentation about the main regulatory mechanisms – finances, labour market by Matt Doria (Vice President of Salary Cap Management, NBA) and Alex Roth (Vice President and Assistant General Counsel of League Governance and Policy, NBA).

At NBA: Presentation about promotion of gender equality & fight against discrimination in American sport by Ashleigh Huffman (VP of Global Engagement, Institute for Sport & Social Justice and former Chief of Sports Diplomacy, U.S. Department of State).

At St John’s University: Presentation about College sport by David P. Hedlund (Ph.D., Professor and Chaiperson, Division of Sport Management, Collins College of Professional Studies, St John’s University).

At St John’s University: Round table discussion about Sports Agents and Labour Markets with Matteo Zuretti (Chief International Relations and Marketing, NBPA) and Rizvan Magomedov (President of Dominance, MMA).

At MLB: Welcome speech by Patrick Houlihan (Executive Vice President, Labor Relations, MLB).

At MLB: An overview of Baseball’s Minor League Organization by Allison Creekmore (Vice President, Minor League Baseball Business Operations, MLB) and Mike LaCassa (Senior Director, Player Development, MLB).

On the Wednesday evening, participants had the privilege to experience a beautiful New York City sunset and illuminated cityscape during a dinner cruise.


The next and final MESGO VII session will take place in Silicon Valley from 29 April to 2 May and will focus on leadership and innovation.

A MESGO week dedicated to Ethics and Integrity

MESGO VII, News, Non classé

From 6 to 10 March 2023, the MESGO VII participants were in Germany (Mainz and Frankfurt) for Session 4 of the programme. Directed by both Mathias Schubert and Volker Bernardi, senior researcher and sports law lecturer, respectively, at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.

Mathias Schubert, Senior Researcher, JGU Mainz

Volker Bernardi, Sports Law Lecturer, JGU Mainz

The session covered several topics related to ethics and integrity in sport, such as; safeguarding and abuse, ethical responsibility of leaders, sports and human rights, freedom of speech and athlete activism, diversity and discrimination including the governance of World Para Sports.

Participants had the opportunity to reflect collectively in some depth on the different topics through work exercises but also by interacting with a large panel of experts in their field. A warm thank you to all the speakers for their high-level contributions to the session!

Each session over the five days was hosted by a different academic or sporting institution: Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz (MESGO partner); German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB); German Football Association (DFB); Mewa Arena (Mainz 05 Stadium); Euro 2024 Headquarters.

At the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz: Presentation about “Ethics and Integrity in Sport: Introduction & Workshop” by Mike Mcnamee, Professor, KU Leuven & Swansea University

At the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz: Presentation about “Monitoring Good Governance and Ethical Principles in Practice: The Example of the Gymnastics Ethics Foundation (GEF)” by Alexander McLin, Director, Gymnastics Ethics Foundation

At the German Olympic Sports Confederation: Presentation about “The Sports Good Governance Game – Inspire Sport Managers to Become Ethical Leaders” by Abigail Levrau, Professor, Executive Committee Member of GUBERNA & Mathieu Marlier, Professor, Lunex University, Luxemburg

The MESGO group at the German Olympic Sports Confederation

At the German Football Association: Presentation about “Sports and Human Rights” by David Grevemberg, Chief Innovation and Partnerships Officer, The Centre for Sport and Human Rights

The MESGO group at the German Football Association

At the MEWA Arena (MAINZ 05 STADIUM): Presentation about “Diversity in Sports: A Sport Governing Body Perspective” by Ivo Ferriani, IOC member; Member of IOC Gender Equality Diversity and Inclusion Commission; President, International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation

The MESGO group at the MEWA Arena

At the EURO 2024 Headquarters: Welcome speech by Markus Stenger, Managing Director, Euro 2024 GmbH & Mex Schär, Managing Director, Euro 2024 GmbH

At the EURO 2024 Headquarters: Open Debate about “the Athlete as Gladiator in Modern Sport: Towards Occupationalisation?” with Matthias Hofbauer, Former Professional Floorball Player, Member of the International World Games Association (IWGA) athletes’ commission; Dr Jürgen Mittag, Professor, German Sport University, Cologne & Rachel Smith, OLY, Athlete Service Manager of Team GB, British Olympic Association (BOA)

In terms of entertainment, the participants had the opportunity to play football at the new DFB-Campus and indoor climbing as well as enjoying excellent traditional German cuisine.

The next MESGO session will take place in Barcelona (Spain) from 26 to 30 June 2023 and will be dedicated to Events and Participation.

MESGO mourns the passing of Saoud A. Aziz M A Al-Mohannadi, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Vice President and FIFA Council member

MESGO II, Non classé

It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Saoud Al-Mohannadi, former MESGO participant (MESGOII). 

After serving as the General Secretary of the 16-time Qatar Stars League and two-time AFC Champions League winners Al Sadd SC., Saoud was appointed general secretary of the Qatar Football Association (QFA) in 2001.

In 2015, he became vice president of the AFC, a position he held until his death.

Described as “a true servant of the game” by AFC President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, Saoud contributed immensely to the development and growth of QFA competitions and, in particular, played a key role in the transformation of the AFC Asian Cup.

For the MESGO family, Saoud will also be remembered as a caring and passionate person, eager to learn and always willing to share his knowledge and experience. The entire MESGO team convey their sincere condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.  Our thoughts are with them during this very difficult time.

Great start for the MESGO 7th edition in Switzerland!

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The 30 MESGO participants, of 22 different nationalities, met in Lausanne last week. “Introduction to Global Sport Governance” was the main focus of this first session.

The first session of the MESGO 7th edition took place from 22 to 26 August 2022 and was co-directed by Nathalie Alaphilippe, lawyer at CDES and MESGO programme director and Jean-Philippe Bonardi, professor at HEC Lausanne. During this week, dedicated to the “Introduction to global sport governance”, the debates focused, among others, on the governance of national and international sports, on corporate governance issues and governance strategy.

MESGO VII participants were hosted by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) and finally the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) where they had the opportunity to discuss a case study on FIBA vs Euroleague.

The MESGO VII group at the International Olympic Committee.

During this intense week, the participants had the chance to discuss and debate with senior leaders of the MESGO sports partners:

  • Giorgio Marchetti (deputy general secretary, UEFA)
  • Andreas Zagklis (secretary general, FIBA)
  • Martin Hausleitner (general secretary, EHF)

It was also an opportunity for the participants to listen and discuss with other high-level speakers from within and outside the sports sector and MESGO former participants:

  • Eric Ropert (managing director, French Ice Hockey Federation)
  • Kevin Ashby (Senior Digital Content Manager, UEFA)
  • Alex Phillips (consultant); Michal Buchel (CEO, International SAMBO Federation)
  • Ciska Du Plessis Austin (Strategic and Business Advisor, Cycling South Africa)

Many thanks to them for their availability and sharing their experience with the MESGO participants!

MESGO sessions are also an opportunity for participants to share special moments outside the classroom.   For this first session, several team-building activities took place, including cooking class, wine tasting and an introduction to track cycling.

Next stop will be in Paris, 10 to 14 October 2022 for a second session dedicated to “Competition Design and Financial Sustainability”.

The MESGO team in Barcelona for session 5

MESGO VI, Non classé

MESGO VI participants visited Barcelona last week for the fifth session of the programme. Francesc Solanellas, professor in sports management at Institut Nacional d’Educació Física de Catalunya (National Physical Education Institute of Catalonia) organised the session, which took place from 24 to 28 January and was dedicated to sports events and participation.

  • At circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya: Francesc Solanellas, professor at INEFC and MESGO session 5 director

Various topics and issues were tackled during the week, in particular :

  • Bidding strategies;
  • Governance models and main stakeholders;
  • Implementation of the event, with a focus on risk and crisis management;
  • Post-event issues (legacy, knowledge transfer and economic impact);
  • Strategies implemented by national and international federations to increase participation.

We would like to thank all the speakers that contribute to this session: Lars Haue-Pedersen, Managing Director (Sports Practice, Burson Cohn and Wolfe); Jordi Bertomeu Orteu, CEO (Euroleague Basketball); Roser Queraltó, Chief Business Development Officer (Euroleague Basketball); Eduard J.Scott, International C-Level Sports Business Leader (Freelance); Xavier González, former CEO  (International Paralympic Committee); Jeremy Cottino, Director of Strategy and Projects Execution (AS Monaco); Josep Lluis Santamaria, Director (Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya); Marc Saurina, Commercial Partnerships Senior Director (Dorna Sports); Philippe Furrer, Founder and Chief Engagement Officer, (insPoweredBy) and Co-Founder and Chief Impact Officer (The SHIFT); Patricia González, Group Leader Talent Development Programme (FIFA); Miguel Crespo, Head Participation and Education (International Tennis Federation); Gerard Figueras, former General Sports Secretary (Generalitat of Catalunya); Dr Holger Preuss, Professor (Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz);  Gilbert Felli, Former Chief Executive Officer (IOC); André Fläckel, Head of Gaming and Esports (Infront Sports).

It was also an opportunity for the participants to listen and discuss with key representatives of MESGO sports partners: Robert Rieblinger, 3X3 Development Manager and Florian Pasquet, National Federations and Sport Senior Manager (FIBA) ; Lukasz Wojtowicz, Head of CEO office, Barbara Storaci, Project Manager, Andrea Brighenti, Head of Football Planning and Services and Peter Dennis, Licensing Manager (UEFA).

The MESGO team is very grateful to all of them for their availability and willingness to share their experiences.

At INEFC: presentation about “Bidding for UEFA events” by Andrea Brighenti
At INEFC: presentation about “Bidding for UEFA events” by Barbara Storaci
At Real Club de Polo Barcelona: presentation about the EuroLeague model by Jordi Bertomeu Orteu
At Real Club de Polo de Barcelona: presentation about Turkish Airlines Final Four by Roser Queralto
  • At Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya: presentation of the Circuit by Josep Lluis Santamaria
  • At Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya: presentation about MotoGP events by Marc Saurina
At Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya: presentation about “Risk management for sports events” by Jérémy Cottino
Online: Robert Rieblinger, expert for FIBA 3X3 case study
  • At Barcelona World Race: Round-table discussion about Sports participation with Philippe Furrer, Patricia Gonzalez and Miguel Crespo
  • At Barcelona World Race: Presentation about “Evolution of the impact and legacy of major sports events” by Dr Prof Holger Preuss
At Emilio Sanchez Academy: presentation about “The current esports landscape” by André Flackel
At Emilio Sanchez Academy: presentation about “UEFA EURO 2020 eTournament” by Peter Dennis

As usual, a team-building event was organised during the week, in this case, participants competed against each other in a kart racing competition.

The next MESGO session will take place in London from 28 February to 4 March 2022 and will be dedicated to Marketing and Communicaton.

A one-week online session dedicated to the legal framework in sport

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The third session of the sixth edition of the MESGO, initially scheduled in Brussels, took place online from 3rd to 7th May 2021.

The session was co-directed by Nathalie Alaphilippe and Jean-Christophe Breillat, both lawyers at CDES. During this week, dedicated to the “legal framework in sport”, the debates focused, among others, on the disciplinary procedures, EU law, advocacy and lobbying.

We would like to thank all the speakers that contribute to this session: Richard Harry, Chief Executive, Sport Resolutions; Efraim Barak, Founder of Efraim Barak, Sport Law and Consultancy; Loïc Alves, Legal Counsel FIFPRO (and MESGO IV graduate); Richard McLaren, Law Professor, Western University, CAS Arbitrator and Independent Investigator; Stanislas Frossard, Executive Secretary, EPAS – Council of Europe; Florencia Van Houdt, Head of the Sports Unit, European Commission; Michele Colucci, Member of the legal sector, European Personnel Selection Office (EPSO); Julien Zylberstein, Chief of Governance and Stakeholder Affairs, UEFA; Lukasz Bochenek, Managing Director of International Strategy, Leidar – Advocacy Lab, to name only a few.

Round-table discussion about Arbitration in Sport: pros and cons. Is CAS the only remedy?, Richard Harry, Chief Executive, Sport Resolutions

Expert during the role-playing exercise about “EU law and its application to sport’’, Benoît Keane, Keane Legal, Brussels

Round-table discussion about “Inter-institutional cooperation in the field of sport at EU level”, Katarzyna Biniaszczyk, Coordinator of the Sports Group, European Parliament (and MESGO V graduate)

Presentation about “Sport and European social dialogue’’, Paulina Tomczyk, General Secretary, EU Athletes body

Speaker during the round-table discussion about “EU advocacy and sport”, James Ogilvie, EU and Governmental Affairs Manager, UEFA

The next MESGO session will take place in Mainz (Germany) from 27 September to 1 October 2021 and will be dedicated to Ethics and Integrity.

A two-day online session dedicated to Competition Design and Financial Sustainability

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On 8 and 9 March 2021, the first part of the 2nd session of the sixth edition of the MESGO, initially scheduled in Paris, took place online.

Directed by Sean Hamil, director at Birkbeck Sport Business Centre (University of London), the objective of this session was to give participants a general framework for competition design and financial sustainability by presenting, among other topics, the existing regulatory systems. In addition, during this two-day session, some time was also set aside for thesis methodology and exchanges with MESGO mentors.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the speakers that contributed to this ‘compact version of the online session’:

Tim Pawlowski (full professor of sport economics, University of Tübingen); Konstantin Grigorishin (founder and president, International Swimming Club Energy Standard and head of advisory board and financier, International Swimming League); Ales Zavrl (head of club licensing, UEFA); Philippe Rasmussen (head of financial fair play, UEFA); Didier Primault (general director, CDES); Raffaele Poli (head of CIES Football Observatory).

Presentation about the ‘Many ways to organise a competition’ by Tim Pawlowski, full professor of sport economics (University of Tübingen).

Group exercise on club licensing and financial fair play with the participation of Ales Zavrl, head of Club Licensing (UEFA) and MESGO V participant.

Presentation about the general principles informing sport labour markets’ design and operation by Didier Primault, general director, CDES.

Presentation of an overview of the operation of the international football labour market, and implementation by FIFA of reforms of the regulation of the international player transfer market by Raffaele Poli, Head of CIES Football Observatory.

The second part of this session will be held in Paris this November.

Great start for the 6th MESGO edition

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The first session of the sixth edition of the MESGO, initially scheduled in Switzerland, took place online from 18th to 22nd January 2021.

The session was co-directed by Jean-Jacques Gouguet, professor at the University of Limoges and Jean-Philippe Bonardi, dean at HEC Lausanne. During this week, dedicated to the “introduction to global sport governance”, the debates focused, among others, on the governance of national and international sports, on corporate governance issues, innovation in the context of sport and the decision-making processes.

The participants had the opportunity to interact with senior leaders of the MESGO sporting and institutional partners:

  • Michael Wiederer, president, EHF
  • Andreas Zagklis, secretary general, FIBA
  • Guy-Laurent Epstein, marketing director, UEFA
  • Stanislas Frossard, executive secretary EPAS, Council of Europe

Presentation about FIBA governance and strategy: past, present and future by Andreas Zagklis, secretary general, FIBA.

Moreover, they were able to listen, discuss and share their views with a large panel of experts in their field, such as:

  • Sean Hamil, director, Birkbeck Sport Business Center, University of London
  • Jean-Loup Chappelet, professor, Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration
  • Alex Phillips, independent advisor
  • Christophe Dubi, Olympic Games executive director, IOC
  • Patrick Comninos, CEO, Basketball Champions League
  • Michael Mrkonjic, head of division, Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen
  • Miles Templeman, independent non-executive director, Rugby Football Union
  • Yann Le Moenner, CEO, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO)
  • Mogens Kirkeby, president, International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA)
  • Xavier Timbeau, head of forecast and analysis department, Sciences Po, Paris
  • Guido Palazzo, professor of Business Ethics, HEC Lausanne

The new MESGO cohort.

Presentation of the IOC strategy by Christophe Dubi, Olympic Games executive director, IOC.

Analysis of the FIBA/EuroLeague situation by Patrick Comninos, CEO, Basketball Champions League.

Indicator for good governance: a status report and critical approach to practice by Jean-Loup Chappelet, professor at Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration and Michael Mrkonjic, head of division, Swiss Federal Institute of Sport Magglingen.

Round-table discussion: opportunities for event owners with Guy-Laurent Epstein, marketing director at UEFA and Yann Le Moenner, CEO at Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO).

Sports activities took place during the week to help participants explore their daily mobility habits with some useful methods to help them express their body movements.

See you in Brussels for the next session!

A two-day online session dedicated to Chinese Sport

MESGO V, Non classé

On 28 and 29 September 2020, the first part of the 9th (and final) session of the fifth edition of the MESGO, initially scheduled in Beijing, took place online. Our sincerest appreciation goes to Beijing Sport University: MESGO partner for the Chinese online sessions.

Co-directed by Holger Preuss, professor at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz and Jean-Jacques Gouguet, professor at the University of Limoges, the objective of this session was to introduce participants to the Chinese sport system.

During those two days, the participants had the opportunity to interact with a large panel of experts in their field, such as:

  • Jeanne Gloanec, journalist, Le vent de la Chine
  • Shengxin Li, Vice-Dean, Management School, Beijing Sport University
  • Xiaoqian Hu, professor, Tsinghua University, Beijing
  • Wu Dong, professor, Beijing Sport University
  • Pierre Justo, director, Asia TNS Sofres
  • Louis Liu, general secretary, Chinese Football Association
  • Andrew Mercer, acting general counsel and legal director, Asian Football Confederation
  • Romuald Nguyen, director, French Football Office, China
  • Wolfgang Maennig, professor, department of Economics, Hamburg University
  • Mengmeng Zhang, chief representative China, OL Groupe
  • Larry Zheng, vice president, Shankaï Sports
  • David Dongwei Yang, chief executive officer, HS Sports & Media / Operation partner of CITIC Capital

Round-table live discussion about CFA, the future of football in China and Asia – strategy and challenges: Louis Liu, general secretary, Chinese Football Association

Discussion about Chinese global strategy “belt and road project” and sport with Wolfgang Maennig, professor at Hamburg University

Round-table live discussion about Chinese investment in sport industry: Larry Zheng, vice president at Shankaï Sports.

A warm thank you to all the speakers for their high-level contributions to the session!

Participants also got the chance to take part in some virtual, fun and interactive social events, such as a live Qi Gong lesson and an initiation to traditional Chinese calligraphy.

The second part of this final MESGO V session will be conducted during a face-to-face seminar next March in Paris. The fundamental question of the future of sport will be addressed, notably through the consequences related to the COVID-19 crisis, the new sustainability model and what the repercussions are for sport and its governance.