This month has seen Manchester City Football Club Captain, Vincent Kompany graduate from Alliance Manchester Business School with a Master's in Business Administration (MBA).

Vincent studied Manchester Global MBA (Part-time) Programme, which is made up of core business and management courses, specialist electives and two practical business projects. He was awarded a merit grade and achieved a distinction with a score of 72 on his dissertation project, which looked at how professional football clubs in the Premier League can benefit from home game advantage and achieve game-changing levels of improvement.

Commenting on his achievement, Vincent said: “I’ve always felt education is very important and this was instilled into me by my late mother from an early age. It felt like a fitting tribute to my mother to pursue my academic career by studying an MBA. This programme was the ideal option for me.

“When you’re playing football at the top levels, even managing your personal finances starts to become like running a business. It was important to me that I understood what my accountant was talking about and that I could confidently assess a business plan to take ownership of this area of my life. I’m an entrepreneur at the core so have a natural interest in business. The MBA was about backing this up with academic learning and research.

“The MBA itself was extremely rewarding and quickly demonstrated how our learning could be applied practically. It was a huge personal challenge initially and I really had to persevere but the academic staff and other students on my course provided vital support and positivity, which I continuously learned from. I was reassured by the fact other people on the course, who were clearly brilliant in their own professional fields, also faced real human challenges and limitations. Manchester has a brilliant ‘get up and get on’ attitude. The Global MBA provided me with the flexibility around my football career to be able to complete the course around the demands of the day job.

“Football is more than a sport. It impacts social issues and is big business. I was able to focus my research on the football industry and how clubs can benefit from home advantage. Part of this involved interviewing 25 footballers who have played at the top levels of international football. I feel I have crossed the finishing line of the course much better than when I started and although I want to continue playing football as long as possible, I may look to use this combination of academic learning and years of playing experience in the future.”

This international MBA promises to fit around a student’s career and personal commitments, providing a flexible and cohesive blend of face-to-face workshop residentials and online interactive elements. The workshops allow students to learn in small group environments through the University of Manchester’s network of global centres (Manchester, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Shanghai or Sao Paulo) from expert faculty and peers who are well-respected professionals. This learning is complemented by online interactions with academics, business professionals and peers from all over the world.

The learning in the MBA is applied throughout the programme of studies with a Business Simulation, a live business project, and intensive group work at the workshop residentials, leaving graduates with practical business and management skills to propel their careers.

MBA Programmes Director at Alliance Manchester Business School, Xavier Duran added: “Vincent’s remarkable academic performance culminated with an excellent final MBA project that, following robust methodology, concluded with strong and timely strategic recommendations. His graduation is an impressive achievement.

“Having met Vincent on his first day on the course, it has been a joy to watch his progress through to graduation. At the business school, we use a teaching approach we call the Manchester Method, which Vincent fully embraced. This focuses on group work, practice-based critical learning and personal reflection.”

Find out more about the Manchester Global MBA (Part-time) Programme.