GamePlan is a monthly career membership for professionals building careers in European sport business and the wider sports industry. From your first front office role to a board seat at a federation — we give you the insider playbook.
The Formula
The European sports industry doesn't need more fans with CVs. It needs professionals who bring real expertise — finance, law, data, marketing, operations — and know how to apply it inside clubs, federations, leagues, and rights holders.
Finance, marketing, law, data analytics, operations, sales, HR — whatever you're genuinely good at. That's your leverage. The sports industry needs job experts first.
Knowing how to position your expertise for clubs, leagues, federations, agencies, and rights holders — that's what separates dreamers from professionals who get hired.
A front office role at a club. A position at UEFA, a national federation, an agency, or a sports brand. A career built on substance, not fandom.
“With passion, you fill stadiums. With professionals, you run the business. We've placed hundreds of executives across European sport — the ones who get hired understand how to translate their professional expertise into the language of sport business.”
— GamePlan Founders | 35 years in European sports executive search
Understanding The Landscape
Before you build a career in European sports, you need to understand the distinction most people miss entirely.
The Business of Managing Sport
The front office. The people who run clubs, leagues, federations, and venues across Europe. Ticketing, sponsorship, operations, legal, finance, fan engagement, and event delivery at organisations like the Premier League, Bundesliga, UEFA, or your local football club.
If you want to work inside a sports organisation — this is your world.
The Ecosystem Around Sport
The wider ecosystem. Agencies, media companies, tech firms, consultancies, brands, and rights holders that orbit around European sport. Think IMG, DAZN, Sportradar, Infront, and thousands of specialist firms.
If you want to work around sport — using the industry as your market — this is where you look.
Sports marketing sits at the intersection — where brands meet clubs, where commercial expertise meets sport culture. It's often the entry point for professionals crossing from traditional marketing into the European sports ecosystem.
Insider Frameworks
After 35 years of placing professionals across European sport, we've distilled what separates people who build careers from people who stall. These three frameworks are at the core of every GamePlan membership tier.
Framework 01
The job formula. Your professional expertise — finance, law, data, operations — multiplied by your understanding of how the sports industry works. Neither alone is enough. The multiplication is where careers are made.
Covered in: All tiers
Framework 02
Performance gets you in the door. Image shapes how colleagues and decision-makers perceive you. Exposure puts you in the room when opportunities are discussed. Most professionals over-index on performance and ignore the other two.
Covered in: Pro & Executive
Framework 03
The management principle that governs how value flows inside sports organisations. Debt is what's owed. Gift is what you give without obligation. Magic is the unreplicable contribution that makes you irreplaceable. Leaders operate in all three.
Covered in: Executive
Career Stages
Every career stage in European sport has different rules. Each GamePlan membership tier is built for a specific stage — based on what we've seen work in 35 years of placing professionals across clubs, federations, leagues, and agencies.
Your first role in European sport
You have the degree or the drive. Now you need to understand how European sport business actually works — club structures, federation hierarchies, the rights holder ecosystem — and how to write a CV that gets past a sports hiring manager.
See what's included →Years 1–5 in the industry
You're in. The first five years define your trajectory. This is where you learn PIE Theory — balancing Performance, Image, and Exposure — and build the management skills that separate career builders from people who plateau at mid-level.
See what's included →C-suite & board positions
At this level, the rules change entirely. Opportunities come through search firms and closed networks. We open that door with the Debt/Gift/Magic principle — and insights from the executive search side of the table.
See what's included →Included
Expertise × Industry
The GamePlan Playbook
The Playbook
The definitive guide to building a career in European sport — drawn from 35 years of headhunting, executive search, and placing hundreds of professionals across clubs, federations, leagues, agencies, and brands.
Chapters map directly to your membership tier. Starter members get the foundation (debunking myths, landing your first role). Pro members unlock management principles and career planning. Executive members get the full playbook — including headhunter insights and board-level strategy.
Choose your tier to accessPricing
GamePlan is a monthly career membership for professionals in European sport business and the wider sports industry. Pick the tier that matches your career stage. Upgrade or cancel any time.
Secure checkout opens in a shared Stripe page. Each button takes you there with the matching tier tagged, then you select that plan on the next screen.
Breaking In
Land your first role in European sport
Shared Stripe checkout. Select Starter on the next screen.
The Launchpad
Accelerate your first 5 years
Shared Stripe checkout. Select Pro on the next screen.
Leadership
C-suite & board-level intelligence
Shared Stripe checkout. Select Executive on the next screen.
Breaking In
Starter
$9/mo
The Launchpad
Pro
$29.99/mo
Leadership
Executive
$79/mo
Shared Stripe checkout. Select Starter on the next screen.
Shared Stripe checkout. Select Pro on the next screen.
Shared Stripe checkout. Select Executive on the next screen.