The Faculty of Business Studies of Mondragon University, the Eibar Sports Association and the WATS Team (a reference body for professional sports training and the prevention of violence in sports) have signed an agreement to promote training, professionalisation and employability in sports through two university programs. The following programs will be: Master's in Innovation and Management in Sports Business and Postgraduate in Sports Innovation.

The agreement was signed in Ipurua, at the association's stadium, and was attended by: Lander Beloki, Dean of the Faculty of Business Studies; Mikel Larrañaga, Vice-President of the Eibar Kirol Elkartea Foundation; Jon Ander Ulazia, representative member of the Eibar Sports Association; and Alex Navarro, one of the founders of the WATS Team.

The initiative, developed between the three parties, is based on the need to increase sports training through these two university programs. These programs will involve club experts in a variety of areas, such as business management, communication strategies, or the club’s internationalization model. In addition, the agreement includes a scholarship program for the club's athletes and the people who carry out their work there, as well as an internship program for participants in both programs.

Mondragon Unibertsitatea and the WATS Team have provided details of the programs, both of which are pioneers in the Basque Country and Spain.

The Sports Innovation Postgraduate Course is aimed at professionals between the ages of 27 and 50 who want to innovate in their companies located in the sports sector or who are ready to launch and develop a business project in the field of sports. Through training and support, the executive program enables professionals to advance in the sports sector. The program has had two editions, in which a total of 25 people have participated; the third edition of the program will launch in March (www.wats.team/wats-expert-online/).

The registration period is open

On the other hand, the Master's in Innovation and Management in Sports Business is aimed at young people between the ages of 22 and 27 who like sports and have recently graduated, who want to work in the sports sector and want to complete their sports business project in a practical way. The first edition of the program is currently under development, and the registration process for the second edition is already open (www.wats.team/wats-master/).

This collaboration is the first starting point for the three to continue working towards the following goals: to promote the values ​​of sport, to deepen the professionalization and training of the sports sector, to raise awareness against sports violence and to develop joint actions in the future.

Among the teachers in both programs are several well-known faces from the world of elite sports, associated with the WATS Team: Vicente del Bosque (former national selector), Julen Guerrero (U17 national selector and former Athletic Club player), Xabi Prieto (former Real player), Patricia Ramírez ( sports psychologist, writer and speaker), Jero García (former professional boxer and presenter of the TV show “Hermano Mayor”), and fifteen other prominent professionals in the fields of business management, entrepreneurship, business development, marketing or communication, among others .