Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Taiwo Awoniyi graduate from PFA Business School

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Taiwo Awoniyi are among the PFA Business School’s 2026 graduates, BBC Sport reported on 30 September. The Everton midfielder and Coventry City striker pursued sport-directorship studies while playing professionally, showing how current footballers are preparing for possible careers beyond the pitch. The BBC reported from a graduation event at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium in London.

Dewsbury-Hall told BBC Sport he had completed a postgraduate diploma in global football sport directorship. He said he hoped to keep playing for a long time but wanted to continue learning away from football. He presented the qualification as preparation for an opportunity that might arise later, rather than a plan to leave playing now.

How Dewsbury-Hall fitted study around football

The BBC reported that the PFA course schedules seminars to reduce clashes with matches and training, while allowing players to study in their own time. Dewsbury-Hall said he had sometimes worked on an iPad while travelling home from away games, drawing unusual looks from others on the journey. His account gives a practical example of what studying during a playing career requires.

Dewsbury-Hall told the BBC that completing the course showed players could pursue education while still competing. He also acknowledged that different players have different interests. His decision does not establish that he intends to become a sporting director; he said only that the qualification could help him if a suitable opportunity appeared in the future.

Why Awoniyi kept studying during his playing career

Awoniyi said players can have time to study around their football commitments, including in the evenings, but described the work as demanding. He said a player’s willingness to commit to it matters. His comments do not suggest that the schedule would suit every footballer; they describe how he has chosen to use time outside training and matches.

The BBC’s report places Awoniyi among the current players at the 2026 graduation alongside Dewsbury-Hall. It also describes former players attending the event. The mix reflects the course’s relevance to people at different points in their football careers, though graduation alone says nothing about which jobs any participant will take next.

What the PFA sport-directorship course covers

The PFA Business School describes its Global Football Sport Directorship programme as a postgraduate course developed with programme co-directors Andoni Zubizarreta and Les Reed and football sport directors. Its recorded course description covers leadership, football governance, sport finance, strategic operations, scouting, recruitment and football analytics. Those subjects address the range of decisions involved in running football operations beyond the playing squad.

The PFA lists the programme as part-time over two academic years, with a two-hour virtual session every two weeks and four face-to-face sessions each year. That published structure helps explain how a player could fit the programme around club commitments. The BBC separately reported that seminar scheduling aims to avoid clashes with training and matches.

The sources use different wording for the award. BBC Sport calls Dewsbury-Hall’s completed qualification a postgraduate diploma. The PFA’s recorded course page says completion of the programme leads to a Certificate in Global Football Sport Directorship awarded by the University of Portsmouth in collaboration with the PFA Business School. The precise relationship between those descriptions remains unclear.

How the business school has developed

The PFA said its inaugural business-school graduation took place at Emirates Stadium on 15 September 2025 and recognised completion of four programmes, including Global Football Sports Directorship. That earlier ceremony provides context for the BBC’s report on the 2026 cohort. It does not establish who attended or graduated in 2026; the BBC’s interviews and reporting supply those details.

In its 2025 account, the PFA said its courses combined online learning with in-person seminars to help players balance study with training and competition. It reported a faculty of more than 75 practitioners from more than 50 clubs across 13 countries. At that inaugural graduation, former Manchester United defender Phil Jones said he had begun studying after retirement and was interested in sporting directorship as a possible future role.

What players say education can offer now

Former Spain defender César Azpilicueta told BBC Sport that education can help players develop during their playing careers as well as prepare for what follows. He said he returned to study and completed an MBA at Harvard during his nine-year spell at Chelsea. He recalled studying before Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Manchester City in the 2021 Champions League final because it helped him focus ahead of the match.

The graduates’ accounts point to several reasons for studying: Dewsbury-Hall wants to keep learning, Awoniyi has made education a continuing commitment, and Azpilicueta sees value during a playing career. BBC Sport’s interviews establish those individual views. Neither the interviews nor the course information establishes that the current graduates have accepted, or will later obtain, sporting-director positions.