Dilly Ding Dilly Dong! Ranieri wins another major title thanks to DMU

Leicester City’s Premier League-winning manager, whose team achieved the impossible dream when they were crowned champions of England at odds of 5000-1, has secured himself another major title – that of Dr Claudio Ranieri.

Rome’s famous son, who entered world football folklore for masterminding the Foxes’ fairy tale finish last season, was awarded a Doctor of Arts degree by De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) earlier today in front of hundreds of cheering students.

Dr Ranieri received his honorary degree in recognition of his incredible triumph with Leicester City as well as the graceful way he achieved it. Winning his first league title at the age of 64 also demonstrated the hard work and persistence students need to realise their ambitions.

Humble as ever, Dr Ranieri said: “I say thank you to De Montfort University for this graduation, but I must also say thank you to my players because if I am here it is because my players made something special happen last year.”

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DMU Vice-Chancellor Professor Dominic Shellard said: “Leicester City’s achievement last year was a thrilling feat that captured the hearts and minds of football fans worldwide, and of everyone with a love of adventure and a sense of the unlikely.

“Long before he won the title, Claudio Ranieri won the admiration and respect of our home city, and all of us at DMU. We are delighted to honour him today for his footballing achievements, for what he has done for our city of Leicester and for his personal qualities which represent all that is best in sport.”

The football theme to Wednesday’s degree ceremony kicked-off with a catwalk event in which Austria and Leicester City full back Christian Fuchs’ range of clothing for his #NoFuchsGiven fashion label was modelled by DMU students.

Fuchs’ is teaming up with DMU to offer students on the university’s illustrious fashion courses an amazing opportunity to develop designs for the brand, with a lucky winner having their work released into the #NoFuchsGiven clothing range. Students will also create a social media campaign around the competition. DMU will also select students from academic courses to provide fashion consultancy advice to #NoFuchsGiven.

DMU has enjoyed a five year partnership with Leicester City and has shared the excitement of seeing them transformed from Championship also-rans to Premier League winners.

During the partnership, hundreds of students have gained incredible experiences working for the club in departments relevant to their degree, such as graphic design, business, marketing and journalism.

Some of Leicester City’s overseas players, including Okazaki, have also honed their language skills with DMU’s English department, and DMU is working closely with Thai owners and shirt sponsors King Power, the biggest travel retailer in Thailand, to look at introducing DMU/King Power scholarships for Thai students, DMU scholarships for King Power employees and #DMUglobal visits for students to work with King Power charities in Asia.