sport news How Kaka, Julio Cesar and Emile Heskey became classmates in Manchester! trends now

A Brazilian student is enjoying a tour of the Etihad Stadium with his classmates. Unshaven and dressed casually in jeans and a jumper, he has his picture taken in front of a giant Manchester City crest, then sits in Phil Foden’s seat in the dressing room while a video is shown to the group.

Earlier, in a makeshift classroom in the Colin Bell Stand, he listens to a lecture on the different business models for football stadiums, where the Bernabeu is used as an example. 

It turns out it is a place he knows well. For the student in question is Kaka, who just so happened to play there for Real Madrid for four years.

Now aged 40, albeit still with the youthful looks of a fresher, his morning spent studying is a far cry from where he was 20 years ago – lifting the World Cup with Brazil in Japan. But the Ballon d’Or winner is in good company in this suite at the Etihad.

He is sharing a table with his old Brazil team-mate, Julio Cesar, the former Inter Milan and QPR goalkeeper. 

Behind them, with their hands up to ask a question, are Emile Heskey – who played for England against Kaka’s Brazil in the 2002 World Cup - and Kolo Toure, while wandering in late to the session is John O’Shea.

Once fierce rivals, they are now all on the same team as part of a 30-strong cohort studying for the Executive Masters for International Players, a master’s degree run by UEFA in association with the University of Limoges in France and Birkbeck, University of London.

Andrey Arshavin and Florent Malouda are also here as part of the third edition of the course. 

Didier Drogba is missing as he has deferred to the fourth, where he will be joined by Nemanja Vidic, Sami Khedira and Nigel de Jong. It is no wonder the lecturers can be star struck.

‘Before I started with UEFA, I was teaching students at a university in Switzerland,’ course leader Joel Pinson tells Sportsmail. 

‘When I entered the classroom for the first session of the second edition, there was Gilberto Silva, Luis Garcia, Gaizka Mendieta and Youri Djorkaeff in the room.

‘I was like, “Dude, I was watching them a couple of years ago on TV”. I was used to teaching but I was sweating, super stressed.

‘Then I started and asked a question and all of them looked down to avoid eye contact at the same time. Then I was like, “OK, it’s regular students!”.’

Regular students, just with a bit more money. This two-year course costs more than £23,000, while pupils must also pay for their travel and accommodation for the seven week-long sessions, which are held in six different European cities, as well as New York.

During their stay in the North West, the class of 2022 visited the Etihad, Anfield and Old Trafford, where they shadowed those facilitating a Manchester United Europa League match.