Brit football club to become first to offer university degree for game

LONDON - A football club in Britain is set to become the first to offer a university degree about the game.

Burnley FC is to offer students the football-focused course, which will include studying core topics of football finance, football law, stadium management, new stadia, and commercialism in football.

It has teamed up with an un-named private university in London with The Championship club bosses hoping to attract students from across the world.

The degree is the dream of operational director Brendan Flood, and will be run by Philip Wilson, who has completed a three-year Football Industries MBA at the University of Liverpool.

Lectures and seminars will take place at Burnley’s football stadium Turf Moor facilities and the cost of the BA (Hons) degree is expected to be around 3,200 pounds.

“Clearly we’re not a rich club, but we have always been a smart club, and this is a way of bringing in secondary income streams to keep up with other clubs,” the Daily Mail quoted Championship Club chief executive Paul Fletcher as saying.

“We are running this as a business, not an extension of the Government education arm, and we feel it is appealing to anyone who wants to get involved in the football industry.

“Our rates will be on a par with what students already have to pay to do similar courses. We may even be a little bit less expensive.

“But our unique setting adds to the appeal as well.

“Not only are we one of the founder members of the Football League, but we are sitting right in the middle of a host of Premier League clubs, and students would be learning while overlooking a green pitch,” he stated. (ANI)