Awoniyi points to the “ups and downs” he has experienced as a footballer, referencing the serious injury he suffered in May 2025 when he was placed in a medically induced coma after rupturing an intestine in a collision with a goalpost when playing for Nottingham Forest against Leicester City.

To him, it is important to keep improving and to recognise there is more to life than football, which is where the Professional Footballers’ Association course comes in.

Awoniyi says: “It’s not like a 9-5 job in football. We go in and sometimes finish quite early and, although it’s challenging, I think every footballer has time in the evening for something like this business school.

“Of course, it demands a lot from you and it’s all about how willing you are to do it. I say to people there are a lot of things that are bigger than football.

“Yes, football is our passion, but we are normal human beings as well and maybe that’s something the world doesn’t always see.”

The graduates certainly appear no different from anyone else celebrating an academic achievement, exhibiting their pride.

Awoniyi has brought members of his extended family to the ceremony, while Dewsbury-Hall seeks out former Everton midfielder Tim Cahill, now working in Qatari football, to discuss the art of scoring goals.

“Obviously there are stereotypes around footballers,” Dewsbury-Hall says.

“But in every industry there are smart people and there are people who aren’t so smart. You’d be surprised how many intelligent people there are in football.

“Maybe some players just don’t want to do things like this, but they easily could. It’s just not their passion.

“I’m not saying this is my passion, but it’s something I’ve done to show that footballers can complete these kinds of courses while they’re still playing. Who knows where it will lead?”

The course is designed to run alongside a football career. Seminars are scheduled to minimise clashes with matches and training sessions.

Players can study in their own time, although Dewsbury-Hall says he has had some “weird looks” while studying on an iPad during journeys home from away games.

Every graduate has a different story.

For Wycombe Wanderers defender Steve Cook, who captained Bournemouth in the Premier League earlier in his career, the course marked a return to formal education for the first time since his school days. Having already obtained coaching badges, he knows he is approaching the end of his playing career.

Some may not actively use their newly gained expertise for many years. All will benefit in some way, though, believes Azpilicueta.

“It’s not only about preparing for life after football. It’s about becoming a better version of yourself in your football career as well,” the former Spain defender, who retired from playing at the end of last season, tells BBC Sport.

Education has been part of his life and is what helped him become a leader on and off the pitch.

Azpilicueta built a career after turning professional with hometown club Osasuna at the age of 17.

He had continued studying until that point and, after abandoning his degree when he became a professional footballer, he later returned to complete an MBA at Harvard University in the United States during his nine-year spell at Chelsea.

The desire to study before playing the biggest match of his club career, Chelsea’s Champions League final triumph five years ago, indicates how he balanced his two interests.

“Normally I’d have a nap after lunch if the game was later in the day, but that day it was impossible. You could hear the fans and you knew a big game was coming up. Having my studies also helped me focus and improve myself away from football,” he explains.

After ending his playing days with Atletico Madrid and Sevilla, Azpilicueta says he will not be rushing into his next role.

The PFA course includes sessions from prominent figures, such as Brighton chief executive Paul Barber, designed to help students understand how different areas of the football industry operate.

For now, many remain focused on playing football. But among this year’s graduates might be future coaches, executives and sporting directors who go on to influence the game in different ways.

A quick quiz question – what do The Wizard of Oz, Super Mario Bros 2 and the ninth season of Dallas all have in common?

Feel free to grab yourself a hot drink and mull it over for a moment.

Now for the answer.

If you figured out that the plots of all three never really happened – because in their endings it was revealed that they existed only in the dreams of one of the lead characters – then very well done indeed.

So do the guilty verdicts mean the Premier League seasons between 2009-10 and 2017-18 should now be considered a figment of our collective imaginations too?

City have until Friday to mount an appeal. If that appeal is unsuccessful, then, at some point, the club will be given some sort of punishment.

Whether sanctions will retcon the past in any way is unknown.

And about moving forwards? Right now football fans, both of City and other clubs across the country, do not know whether the football they are watching is ‘real’ or not.

Are City actually top of the league and in a title challenge, or will they be docked points later in the season?

If they are linked with another team’s star player, could that transfer happen or will they be unable to make deals at some point?

Will they be in the Premier League next season or will they be expelled and will there need to be a quite significant rejigging of the pyramid to accommodate them somewhere else?

And then there are questions about what comes later down the line.

Is anybody else breaking rules right now, which fans will only find out about in the future?

Does the potential for years of results to be retroactively kiboshed undermine the Premier League’s popularity with fans, players and sponsors?

And can the action fans are watching week in, week out ever fully be trusted again?

The answers to those questions will determine the future of the biggest league in the world’s most popular game.