Alicia Povey grew up devouring football content on social media, and now she’s creating it. Six years after graduating, she’s landed a Women’s Social Media Manager role at Fifa, all while representing England in Beach Soccer.
She made every moment at Bath count – founding the Women in Business Society, completing a year abroad that spanned three cities and building the confidence that set her career in motion.
What made you choose to study at Bath?
To me, Bath had the perfect mix of everything. I wanted to play high-level sport at a university which had coaching and facilities that would push me to be my best. I also wanted a language course which didn’t see me reading loads of ancient books – and Bath offered both.
On top of that, as soon as I visited the city and the campus, I could really see myself there. It sounds cliché, but I knew straight away that Bath was where I wanted to be.
Did you have a particular career in mind when you chose your course?
Funnily enough, not especially. When I was at school, I loved languages, history and politics. These subjects offer plenty of transferable skills, so continuing them at university made sense to me. Being multi-lingual and having strong cultural understanding opens so many doors, both in a sporting sense and a professional one, so I knew whatever field I eventually decided to dedicate myself to, I’d have great foundations.
Can you tell us about your experience of studying here?
I had a great time at Bath. My course was brilliant – learning the history and politics of the countries in
the target language really pushed me. My lecturers were great, and I met loads of like-minded people who are still some of my closest friends.
On top of the experience at Bath, my year abroad was incredible. I spent seven months in Barcelona, four months in St Petersburg and then two months in Malaga – I really stretched the ‘year’ part!
Studying in Russia was certainly an experience… When I arrived in the country it was -21C, and the daily commute to university felt like an arctic expedition. It was so interesting to be in a university setting in a completely different culture, and I lived with a Russian babushka (grandma), who took great delight in cooking meat stews and testing my Russian speaking skills daily.
Spain was less challenging – in both cities. It’s always nice when you can balance work stress with a trip to the beach in the evening, or diving into a tapas bar. I played football out there as well, which was a brilliant way to meet new people and the perfect test of my Spanish football vocabulary.
Do you have any favourite memories, or places to go on campus and in the city?
Sitting by the lake in summer was always nice after a day of lectures or heading to the Royal Crescent at the weekend. As students, we were spoiled for choice when it came to nice places to spend our time. Even the library had nice views which could help get you through those long – and sometimes last-minute – essays!
Were you a part of any societies or sports clubs during your time at Bath? What did you enjoy most about them?
I was part of the football and futsal clubs for most of my time at Bath, and certainly came out of university a stronger player than I went in. I’d actually never played futsal before and now I play at the top level in England.
Outside of sport, I founded the Women in Business Society. It’s great to see that it’s still thriving and helping break down barriers for women in male-dominated sectors. It’s easy to say that what I enjoyed most was the people – my involvement in sports and societies helped me meet some great friends.
Describe your career journey since graduating. What is a typical day like in your current role?
After a brief period working in marketing and communications at Oxford University, I moved into the football sector during the pandemic. I started working at then-championship side Wycombe Wanderers, helping to run their social media and writing for their website.
I moved specifically to working in women’s football when I joined Southampton FC, and following a brief spell with Adidas, I am now working as a Women’s Social Media Manager at Fifa.
A typical day includes a lot of planning for what will be posted across the Fifa Women’s World Cup channels, as well as planning for upcoming tournaments that we’ll be covering.
In 2025, I’m Social Media Lead on the Fifa Beach Soccer World Cup and the inaugural Fifa Futsal Women’s World Cup, so there’s a lot of launching content and planning that goes into those before we even touch down in the country to cover the tournament.
What do you enjoy most about your career? Has anything surprised you?
I didn’t expect to end up working in social media, but I really enjoy how there’s always something new – it’s always evolving and there are always trends or new platforms emerging.
Growing up and consuming football content on social media, people underestimate how much work goes into creating and publishing that video or that carousel of images that we take a second to click ‘like’ on.
There’s a misconception that working in football is glamorous, but it’s a very demanding industry. I think one thing that surprised me at the beginning was how people live and breathe their job – it’s never solely a 9–5 – which is tough but rewarding.
You’ve had a lot of success with Beach Soccer since graduating. Can you tell us about that?
I started playing while I was away on my year abroad in Russia. I played at a club called WFC Zvezda who were, and still are, coached by the Russian national team manager. When I got back to England, it was a bit harder to find a team, but eventually I played in a few tournaments and was called up to the England Beach Soccer team for my first cap in October 2023. 
Since then, I’ve racked up more than 20 caps and a few goals, and recently just got back from playing professionally in Spain. Any footballers at Bath should try and make use of the beach volleyball court and get some practice in – it’s a brilliant sport!
How did your studies help to develop you, professionally and/or personally? If you took part in a placement, can you talk a bit about that experience?
Learning languages generally pushes you to be a more confident person, which is important both professionally and personally. My experience spending a year abroad working and studying has also helped me in my professional life when I’ve had to travel abroad for long periods for tournaments or to play sport myself. I also use my languages a lot – most recently when I spent a few months playing professionally in Spain – I would have struggled to do that without the skills I perfected during my degree, even if I needed to brush up on some football vocabulary!
What advice would you give to prospective students thinking about studying your course at Bath?
I’d say 100% do it! It’s a fantastic course that opened so many doors for me. Make the most of your year abroad, meet as many people as you can, and jump into university life – it’s the only time in your life you’ll be able to have so many amazing things going on simultaneously.
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