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Exclusive: Sydney FC Partners With SEDA To Open Education Arm

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Sydney FC has introduced a new Sports-Business program to the organisation and its CEO, Danny Townsend, says it will open the doors to some of the best young talent coming through.

Powered by SEDA Group, the new Sydney FC Sports and Business program is a one-year dual diploma that will give students a chance to study in a practical environment at Sydney FC.

The Diploma will cost students around $14,000 for the year, consisting of four face-to-face days of training and assessment a week, inclusive of facilitated online delivery for some subjects. 

Students are also required to complete 80 hours of practical placement in the industry.

Townsend told Ministry of Sport the program was in response to the requests received over the years from young people wanting to work in the Football and eSports industry. 

“We’ve been working with SEDA now for a long time in a secondary school education program, and we felt that providing a tertiary extension to that would allow for more young, aspiring sports people to get into the game,” Danny said. 

“We’re in the process of building our centre of excellence at Macquarie Park, and now we are able to utilise that facility to deliver this program in partnership with SEDA.

“We felt that it was the right time to do it, particularly with the Women’s World Cup coming, to also give young females the opportunity to engage in sports business,” Danny said. 

Townsend said that the club’s current way of recruiting new staff at the junior level was predominantly through volunteers or internships already, now the program serves as another tool for the club to identify, “some of the best young talent coming through.”

“They will come out of that program with an understanding of the club’s inner workings and therefore be able to integrate if we need a role filled,” he said.

“But equally, we see it as a pathway to get some of these students into university.

“We are fortunate that we have a great relationship with the University of New South Wales and we’re working with them to determine how this program can bridge into a full-fledged degree.”

In comparison to what’s already available for sports-business education, Townsend said that there’s more that can be done in specific areas.

“Academic education is great, and it’s important, but equally, having that practical experience goes a long way to really rounding future employees for any sporting landscape,” he said.

“Being able to do a course like this gives you exposure to every component of the runnings of a professional sporting club,” Danny concluded.

Applications are open to all eligible year 12 graduate students, with the program set to begin in January 2022. 

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