'Want to stay connected to football,' says Rahul Bheke on joining newly launched Sports Management course

The Global Institute of Sports Business (GISB) located in Mumbai, officially announced the launch of their Executive Post-Graduate Program in Sports Management at Novotel Juhu in Mumbai.

The launch event was also attended by numerous well-known athletes from across the nation that will be part of the first batch of the program.

Players such as Rahul Bheke, the defender who plays for the Indian senior football team and captain of Mumbai City FC in the Indian Super League (ISL), Farukh Choudhary, who plays for Jamshedpur FC and forward of the Indian Senior National team, Jayesh Rane of Bengaluru FC and the India U23 National team, Pratik Chaudhari who plays for Jamshedpur FC and Karan Amin who turns out for Odisha FC in the ISL attended the launch event in Mumbai on Monday.

The first batch is dominated by Indian footballers who have represented India at the international stage or are part of the national team setup, and have even played in top domestic and international leagues.

Apart from the athletes that attended the event, the likes of Aditi Chauhan, former captain and current goalkeeper of the Indian National Women’s team, Nikhil Poojary who plays for Hyderabad FC who has also been called up to the senior national team camp ahead of the upcoming Intercontinental Cup, Gaurav Bora defender for NorthEast United FC, Vinil Poojary who plays for I-League side FC Bengaluru United, Rohit Kumar and Parag Shrivas who play for Bengaluru FC in the ISL will be part of the first batch of the program.

The Executive Post-Graduate Program in Sports Management is a hybrid intensive, informative and relevant higher education course specialising in the business of sports.

The program brings together a blend of self-paced online sessions, live online classes, domestic and international immersions and student mixers/networking events, which will allow these athletes part of the first batch of the program to learn key skills needed to be part of the rapidly professionalising sports ecosystem of India.

The program is co-certified by the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and will also welcome global sports industry stalwarts as speakers along with networking opportunities with GISB affiliates for the enrolled athletes.

Speaking about the need of such a course Rahul Bheke said, “Sports is the most important thing for athletes, we all want to stay connected to the industry even after our playing career and want to help sports as an industry grow in India. This course by GISB provides a clear pathway for us to do so.

If we are able to educate ourselves properly about how the sports industry works, then we can start understanding the gaps that need to be filled. So, that's when we all came to the conclusion, we should do this course. We all want to try and help and contribute to the growth of the industry in the country even adding from our own experiences as athletes."

So, that's when we all came to the conclusion, we should do this course. We all want to try and help and contribute to the growth of the industry in the country even adding from our own experiences as athletes.”

Farukh Choudhary concluded by adding to the same sentiment as he said, “It feels good to be part of this course. Obviously, I'm excited now the course is out there. So, I think it's a very good way to start our journey into sports management. I'm both curious and eager to start learning and see what happens behind scenes in sports in India. So, I'm hoping that everything goes smoothly during the course, and I hope I can learn a lot.”