Careers in Sport continues with its second episode, hosted by Denys Kulyk. The series features AISTS alumni working across the global sport industry, with each episode exploring a different theme through one guest’s career. After Kristian D’Amore’s episode on Trajectory, this second conversation turns to Transition : from a refugee camp in Switzerland, through seven years in banking, to a leadership role shaping youth football policy across Europe.
A Calculated Risk: How Pouya Yaghoubinia Built a Career in Football
From the outside, walking away from a secure banking career to enter one of the most competitive industries in the world looks like a gamble. Pouya disagrees. “It was calculated, because I prepared the move. I studied the situation. I looked at different masters or educational opportunities.”
Who is Pouya Yaghoubinia?
Pouya completed his Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) in Sport Management and Technology at AISTS in 2020. He joined the European Club Association (ECA) shortly after as a Football Development Analyst, moved up to Football Development Manager, and has been Senior Football Development Manager and ECA Youth Workstream Admin Lead since March 2025. He is based in Nyon.
Sport as a Refuge: Building an Identity as an Immigrant
Pouya arrived in Switzerland as a refugee before the age of two. Football became his first language. “The first words were like showing the ball, creating some goals, playing football.” With no shared language among the kids in his building, the game did the talking.
That constant adaptation between cultures became an asset rather than a limitation. “It helped me to have an open mind. It helped me to never judge, to listen first, to try to understand.”
A Career in Sport: Was It a Gamble or a Calculated Move?
Before starting his career in sport, Pouya spent 7 years in banking. He does not regret the detour. “I learned a lot, how to be a professional, stakeholder and client management, project management, work under pressure, an analytical mindset.”
But the pull back to sport never went away. He looked for what he calls the three P’s: passion, purpose, profession. That search led him to AISTS, and to a year with no income and a one-year-old child at home. “I jumped with some fears.” Then COVID hit, in the middle of his master’s, and the job openings he had been counting on disappeared one by one. “The year before, I was checking 25 jobs open at one institution. One year later, zero.”
The AISTS Wake-Up Call: The Reality of a Career in Sport
Pouya expected passion to carry him far in the sport industry. AISTS taught him otherwise. “I was very much surprised by the level of professionalism of the sports industry. It will be much tougher than what you originally thought.” The second surprise was personal: a classroom of twenty-five nationalities, all with different ways of thinking. Both challenges, he says, built the professional he is today.
Landing at ECA: When Passion Meets Purpose
Pouya joined the European Club Association (ECA) as a six-month intern before being hired. He puts the fit down to alignment, not luck alone. “There was a complete match, because we had the same vision.” But he pushes back on any purely motivational reading of his story: “Don’t forget the value of your previous experiences. You are not starting from scratch.”
His advice to anyone trying to build a career in sport: build credibility, stay patient, and be ready when the opportunity comes. “One day, this I promise, it will be your turn. You will be close to the pitch. The coach will call you. And then you have to be ready.”
Youth Football, Beyond the Pitch
At ECA, Pouya’s work rests on three pillars:
- developing the youth competition landscape,
- protecting training clubs,
- and supporting academy development through knowledge sharing.
One study his team ran tracked more than 4,000 transfers of minor players across Europe. The finding was stark: “Less than two percent of these players played more than 50 games for the club they were recruited by.”
He is proud of the peer-learning culture ECA has built between rival clubs. “Let’s imagine that BMW is opening the doors of their factories to Mercedes-Benz. That would never happen. But that’s what we created here.”
A Costly Mistake and a Meaningful Recovery in a Career in Sport
Six years in, now a senior manager, Pouya points to one project that tested him most: distributing one million euros to support Ukrainian refugees after the war began. “You cannot do mistakes there. People are expecting this money to support refugees, their families, the kids.”
His approach was to lean on others rather than pretend to have all the answers. “Be humble enough to say I don’t know, or I need support. Then do it.” The project ultimately supported more than 30 initiatives and helped transfer young Ukrainian players to clubs including Sporting, Athletic Club, and Dinamo Zagreb.
What Young Professionals Get Wrong to Build a Career in Sport
Asked what people entering the industry get wrong, Pouya points to impatience and overconfidence. “Believing that because we were a football or sports passionate, we know everything about sports, and not building enough of your story and credibility.”
His fix: take responsibility in local clubs, go to events, be proactive, and treat education as part of the credibility you are building. “It’s the actions that you take and the education that you follow, in addition to other experiences and networking opportunities.”
Why Sport?
For Pouya, the answer traces back to childhood. Sport gave him a language before he had words, and a place to belong before he had a home. “Sport is a way of teaching people some life values. People who practice sport in the right environment develop skills that people who do not do sport might not develop.”
“Sport can change definitely the world, or at least be part of the change, through the education it brings and the life skills it brings you.”
Watch the Full Interview
To discover Pouya’s full story, including his path from a refugee camp in Fribourg to the European Club Association, watch the complete interview here.
The Careers in Sport series continues with ten more conversations exploring the many paths to work in the sport industry. Stay tuned!
