Program Overview

Once graduated, you’ll be unbeatable. You’ll have studied one programme and gained two degrees, achieving a BA in International Sports Management from both the UK and US, opening the door to more international opportunities.

Not only that, you will have gained an English Football Association Introduction to Football Coaching Certificate, a highly prized and practical asset for your future career.

RIASA is based in a beautiful 100 acre parkland at Leeds Beckett Headingley campus which has superb facilities that RIASA students can fully access. Leeds has a lot to offer students. It’s a bustling city that has a thriving independent food scene, a vibrant creative community and a renowned retail destination.

At RIASA you’ll have the fantastic chance to play in a top quality soccer academy with professional coaching and playing opportunities. You’ll be taken through a rigorous soccer training and playing schedule, with coaching focusing not only on your technique, speed and tactics on the field but on your nutrition and health. Get career advice from our professional UEFA A licensed coaching team on your future soccer options, such as how you can achieve a licensed UEFA coaching qualification.

Alongside the practical side of the programme, you will examine the theory and practice surrounding the management and the business of sports in various parts of the world, and gain the vital business skills required for a successful career in sports management.

Like our other undergraduate programmes, our BA in International Sports Management is based on the American liberal arts tradition, which helps broaden perspective and develops practical skills which are highly appealing to future employers in a global economy.

You’ll begin the programme with a combination of modules on business and sport, together with topics such as Research and Writing and Scientific Reasoning, to provide a broadened outlook.  The second year has a financial and business focus in modules on Sports Business, Computer Applications in Management and Microeconomics, together with a look at other subjects such as Sports Psychology.

The third and fourth years see a blend of diverse subjects, including modules on Sports Marketing, Sports Events Planning and Promotion, Sports Journalism, Sports Economics, Team and Leadership, and Talent Identification. Along with a wide-ranging choice of electives in the final year, you’ll also have the option to do an integrated internship in Sports Management, extending your knowledge and expertise in a specialist area of your choice.

As a RIASA Student-Athlete, you will have the opportunity to play against professional academy teams across Europe on our annual tour to countries such as Finland, Slovenia, Latvia, Sweden and more.

On completing this programme, students will be able to apply for four exemptions (all certificate level) from The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), the world’s largest professional body of management accountants, entering into their Operational Level.