The 29-year-old will combine football and education after being accepted for a sports management course at Harvard Business School
Borussia Dortmund midfielder Nuri Sahin has announced that he has been accepted into Harvard.
The Turkey international, who joined Real Madrid from Dortmund in 2011 before returning to his former club, is set to undertake a sports management course at Harvard Business School.
Sahin is expected to juggle his studies with his playing career, and has no plans to retire from football at just 29 years of age.
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This will be just the latest experience for the well-travelled midfielder, who also spent time on loan at Liverpool in 2012-13 and Feyenoord in 2007-08.
Earlier this year, he applied for the Harvard course, claiming that he wanted to be more than just a footballer.
“I have big plans after football, to give back and to give my children something to be proud of,” Sahin told the Guardian. “Not just to talk about how I used to be a football player.”
Sahin is not the first footballer to combine football with education, with many players receiving degrees and diplomas during their playing careers.
Vincent Kompany studied for an MBA at Manchester City, while Andrey Arshavin wrote a thesis on the ‘Development of Sportswear Manufacturing’ as part of his degree in fashion design.
Manchester United’s Juan Mata has two degrees: one in marketing and another in sports science.
Sahin also follows in the footsteps of Barcelona’s Gerard Pique, who studied a course called ‘The business of Entertainment, Media and Sports’ at Harvard.
