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While it’s true that star athletes or coaches will always be the ones dominating the front pages of the newspapers and magazines, you don’t have to be a gold medal winner to have a successful career in sport. This is an industry bursting with very diverse and interesting jobs on the sidelines for new graduates who are passionate about sport and business in various areas like branding, marketing, public relations, etc. You don’t even need to specialize in a one specific sport to flourish professionally in the industry.

Of course, there is a lot of competition but the industry is always looking for new recruits. Here’s how you can get started in sport management.

Get a relevant degree before you do anything else

It’s definitely not true that you don’t need to go to university to work in sport. Actually, a relevant diploma from a prestigious school will have a lot of impact with companies and help you gear up for industry challenges.

There are quite a few specialized courses out there which are specifically designed to help students kickstart a career in the industry. emlyon business school runs a 16-month MSc in Sports Industry Management split across our Paris and Shanghai campuses, which gives students the specialist management skills they need to break into sport management. Our program also includes field trips to London, Munich and the French Alps in the first few months of the course.

Reach out to our alumni network

Once you’re studying, take advantage of your lifelong membership to our emlyon business school forever alumni network and have access to 29,000 alumni working in over 118 countries. Alumni include Laurent Colette, the chief marketing officer of football team AS Roma, Sophie Morel Guillon, director of communications and engagement for the Paris 2024 Olympics Bidding Committee and Laurent Rizzo, the site director of PSG Merchandising at Paris Saint-Germain Football Club.

Apply for an internship/ job in the sports industry

Of course, completing a Masters’ degree with a placement semester could make the task of finding an internship much simpler because approaching recruiters is much easier when you have the help and backing of your school.

Take the opportunity to attend relevant events organized by your school

From day one of your degree, it’s important you get in contact with your school’s career  services and attend to all the workshops, company visits you think might be relevant to you. At emlyon business school, students get the chance to meet hundreds of recruiters and sponsors such as Adidas, Lafuma, Patagonia and The North Face.

In the past our MSc in Sports Industry Management students have obtained fabulous placements in France, Germany, Italy, China, the United States, Switzerland and the Netherlands with companies such as Nike, Adidas, the Professional Football League in Paris, Olympique Lyonnais, the French Federation of Tennis and Quechua.

Source: this article was originally featured on TopUniversities.com