How UoB helped me get a job at FIFA!
Louis delves into how he got a job at FIFA with the support from the University of Birmingham and their Careers Network.
Like many people, transferring from university to post-uni life can be scary, with lots of students my age not sure what career path they want to go down. That was the same for me too, until recently when the university provided me with a great opportunity at one of sport’s most high-profile companies.
I study Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, and most weeks during final year we have careers lectures, which cover a range of topics, including how to find internships, how to use LinkedIn to affectively attract recruiters, and advice surrounding further study like Masters or PhDs.
One of these lectures was on ‘Making the Most out of Final Year,’ in which we were introduced to the Careers Connect service, run by the university, which allows you to book appointments with one of the careers team, and lists hundreds of career opportunities suited to UoB graduates.
One of these opportunities mentioned in the lecture was working for FIFA as a Tournament Football Analyst. This really interested me due to my interest in the analysis side of sport, and particularly football, and with the World Cup coming up in the summer, it would be an amazing time to work for the company.
The lecturer mentioned that someone in the previous year from UoB applied and got the role, which gave me hope that the same would happen. The lecturer had a contact at FIFA, which is why the job was promoted to our university.
So, I applied for the job, had to go through various stages of application, including an interview where we were being tested on our knowledge of the ‘FIFA Football Language,’ and eventually managed to get the job!
I have just returned from an induction week in Cardiff, where we are learning about how to apply the FIFA Football Language to code every action on a football pitch, and create stats available to publicly view after a match.
We, a team of 70 analysts, will then be travelling to Manchester during the World Cup to work on all the matches live, in what should be an amazing experience. We will also be working on other tournaments this year including the U17s World Cup in November 2026.
This opportunity has really kick started my career in sport, so thank you to the lecturer Sophie Bates for having the contact at FIFA, and promoting the job! I am hoping to use this job as a starting point to work for a club in the future as a performance analyst.
The university offers a great range of career support, including the Careers Connect online platform, as well as having a Careers Corner open weekdays in termtime in the library, where you can have appointments with full-time career staff, which I recommend taking advantage of!