Program

Management Diploma for Athletes - For Those with a Background in Sport

MDA is for those who are or have been professional athletes, ready to start their next career. Our diploma program brings together people from various sports arenas who all have in common a strong commitment, determination, and the will to succeed. These are the same ingredients to make both a successful career in sport and a successful career in business. After seven successful programs, the MDA is regarded as a high-quality education program among athletes in Sweden. 

Program Outline 

The curriculum is designed so that you can train or work full time and still manage your studies. Our participants have different experiences and circumstances to take into account, and so to meet everyone's development needs, we have designed a curriculum that is both dynamic and flexible. We combine traditional lectures, workshops, individual work, and internet-based study. In addition, we arrange study sessions with interesting businesses to both inspire and give different business perspectives. Finally, your individual project work will become an important building block in your own career development and employability. 

We use lecturers and teachers from some of the best research institutions in the world, combined with tutors with years of experience in developing managers and leaders of companies. 

The Program Gives You many Possibilities 

- Build a platform for a new career outside of sport

- Start your own company within or outside of the sports world

- Take the next step in your current job

- Develop in your role as a manager and a leader in a club or an association

Project work with MDA 5 - Jonas Andersson, Maria Capistrano Björklund, Andreas Johansson, Johanna Lundberg. 

A Customized Educational Program Just for You 

Management Diploma for Athletes is a one-year general management program focusing on business skills, leadership, and governance. It builds on your experience from the world of sports and gives you a unique opportunity to rapidly gain insight and knowledge that will give you a platform for a second career - either in business or the sports world. 

The program content is built around modules that gradually build up your knowledge and deepen your insights. The education spans a total of 30 days in class spread over a year. 

Strategy and Business Development 

You get a comprehensive picture of the enterprise. We highlight different strategy models and methods for business planning. You and your fellow students will form management teams to operate and develop companies in realistic business situations. You will gain the knowledge and tools that allow you to write business plans. 

Entrepreneurship 

We find that a high proportion of our graduates have become successful entrepreneurs after their sports careers. While many entrepreneurs start businesses without formal entrepreneurship education, learning the principles of venture start-ups and small-scale business development can reduce the "growing pains" of your new business and can lead you on the path to success at a much quicker and more efficient rate. 

Economics and Law 

Being able to understand and use "economic language" is essential in all activities. We have designed this as "economics for non-economists" and we combine theoretical and practical learning that gives you the most important basic knowledge and tools you need to interpret financial information and work with economic issues. We do a review of the legal terms and conditions that are crucial both in the industry as well as in the sports world. You will gain insight into the laws and regulations on, inter alia limited companies, board work, and contracts.

Leadership

Within this topic, you look at yourself through a managerial and leadership lens. This also includes a personality test that will help you and others to understand your leadership profile and how it can best be used. You get greater self-awareness about your motivation, values, strengths, and areas for development in leadership. 

Sales & Marketing 

In this area, we deepen our knowledge of brands, communication, marketing, and sales. You will gain knowledge at both the strategic and practical levels. We look at what the new media landscape looks like, how to build strong customer relationships and create effective internal and external communication. We also provide different perspectives on innovation, and how new ideas and developments create greater competitiveness. 

Operations

We give you a clearer view of operational efficiency - which is about the "how" to do something - not the "what". Many companies build their success by focusing on efficient production and we learn what the difference is between resource and flow efficiency. We highlight the various issues important to leading companies. 

Individual Project Work

You will undertake a project with supervision from industry leaders to focus completely on your own career and development, your area of interest or to build a business plan to help start or continue your business. The project work is carried out continuously throughout the program and presented as a method of examination at the end of the program.

MDA builds on your sports background by combining quality academic content with our close relations to the business community. The program focuses on five thematic areas needed to provide the full picture of how to run, develop or start a business. 

Graduation MDA1 - Christina Bengtsson, Samuel Eriksson, Peter Forsberg, Magdalena Forsberg, Mattias Jonson, Andy Rietschel.