Aisha Nazia secured the eighth rank in the mechanical engineering stream offered by the University of Kerala and immediately landed a job with the Indian Oil-Adani Gas Pvt Ltd (IOAGPL). However, she chose to break away from a promising career to pursue her passion for sports and realise her dreams. An avid football enthusiast, Aisha has proved that passion can indeed work as a career. Recently, she was chosen for the prestigious postgraduate sports executive programme, FIFA Master, endorsed by the global football governing body FIFA.
Following her heart
The 2015 National Games held in Kerala was a turning point in her career and life. The 26-year-old, who was then a student of TKM College of Engineering, Kollam, signed up as a volunteer and was selected as a football facilitator for the mega event. She made the most of the opportunity by interacting with the international referees who officiated in the football competition of the National Games and learned about the various career options in the field.
In 2017, while working with the IOAGPL, she applied to volunteer at the under-17 FIFA World Cup held across six cities in India. Interestingly, she was offered the job of workforce manager at the Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium in Kochi, one of the venues of the tournament.
By the time the tournament was over, she had made up her mind to quit the job and pursue a career in sports management. After completing an internship programme at the Indian Super League (ISL) franchise Kerala Blasters, Aisha started working in the club's operations wing. During the last two seasons of the glitzy league, she had been an integral part of the ISL organising committee.
A new career opportunity
After gaining some valuable experience and exposure in sports management, Aisha applied for the one-year Master's programme offered by FIFA. She is one among the 32 candidates selected from a pool of over 700 global applicants for the prestigious course. Remarkably, there are only two students from India, including her, who made the cut.
The FIFA Master programme comprises three modules taught across three universities in Europe — Humanities of Sport at De Montfort University, Leicester, England; Sport Management at SDA Bocconi School of Management, Milan, Italy; and Sport Law at Université de Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland. The total cost of the course comes around 45,000 Swiss franc or Rs 36 lakh. While a merit scholarship has halved the course fee, she still has to raise about Rs 18 lakh. Aisha has now turned to crowdfunding platforms to fund her studies.
"Interest in sports alone will not be enough to excel in the field of sports management. One needs to possess great marketing skills to be a good sports marketer. Likewise, for managing sporting events, one has to apply knowledge, experience and management principles. It is a challenging job which is physically demanding and involves tight deadlines and a fast-paced work environment. Unfortunately, job opportunities in the field of sports management remain scarce in India," says Aisha, who hails from Kozhikode.
