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Article
Publication date: 18 January 2024

Benedikt Kirsch, Tim Sauer and Henning Zülch

Since the beginning of the 2000s, investors have more frequently invested into professional football clubs, thereby radically changing the industry landscape. This review's…

Abstract

Purpose

Since the beginning of the 2000s, investors have more frequently invested into professional football clubs, thereby radically changing the industry landscape. This review's purpose is to analyze and synthesize the state of research to understand motives, roles and implications of football club investors, and to provide recommendations for further research.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents an integrative literature review by identifying relevant English articles based on the search terms investor, owner, investment, ownership, shareholder and stakeholder in combination with soccer or football. Around 2,431 articles were reviewed. A total of 129 relevant articles was analyzed and synthesized within eight subject areas.

Findings

Investors in professional club football is a young research stream with a clear European focus. Investor motives and roles are diverse and implications are multidimensional. Investors mostly aim for indirect returns rather than pure profit- or win-maximization.

Research limitations/implications

Football clubs comprise an own investment class for which the identified, unique specifics must be considered to develop a financially successful investment model. Thorough academic research of investors' inherent characteristics, investor-club pairings and the pillars of long-term strategies for successful investor-club liaisons are avenues of future research. Furthermore, the results illustrate the need for research outside of Europe.

Originality/value

The paper is the first systematic, integrative review of existing literature in the domain of equity investments into professional club football. The findings genuinely show that, depending on the investor type and ownership structure, investors have a wide impact in professional club football.

Details

Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, vol. 14 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-678X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 9 March 2023

Mark Biram

The term ‘obrigatoriedade’ is a colloquial shorthand in Brazil for the policy incentivising South American clubs to open a women's division by making it a prerequisite for entry…

Abstract

The term ‘obrigatoriedade’ is a colloquial shorthand in Brazil for the policy incentivising South American clubs to open a women's division by making it a prerequisite for entry in the ever more lucrative male Copa Libertadores. The focus of this chapter is a balance of how the South American football federation CONMEBOL's flagship policy has impacted upon the gradual professionalisation of women's football in Brazil. On one hand, the policy has already caused a domino effect as a critical mass of clubs seek to imitate the few clubs who have already provided year-round contracts and conditions that could credibly be described as professional. However, there is a strong feeling that the delivery of the policy has left much to be desired. There are no contractual stipulations requiring clubs to offer professional conditions and from an early stage the practice of outsourcing women's football to another entity or club has sent out a clear message that certain clubs have begun by only paid lip-service to the policy rather than truly embracing the women's game. This chapter considers the future possibilities for the professionalisation of women's football in Brazil. Moreover, the plight of long-standing amateur clubs, who have tirelessly championed the women's game prior to the arrival of the larger clubs, is considered.

Details

Women’s Football in a Global, Professional Era
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-053-5

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 December 2023

Christopher Richardson

Football is at once both a global sport and one that is defined by fiercely guarded local boundaries. For a firm operating within this highly lucrative industry and with ambitions…

Abstract

Purpose

Football is at once both a global sport and one that is defined by fiercely guarded local boundaries. For a firm operating within this highly lucrative industry and with ambitions of establishing a strong international presence for itself, a balance must be struck between riding on the game’s global appeal on the one hand and the need to somehow embed itself within particular local spaces on the other. This study aims to analyse how one such firm, the holding company City Football Group (CFG), is going about achieving this.

Design/methodology/approach

This is a conceptual paper that adopts a broadly inductive approach, building on an extensive analysis of both theoretical research and publicly available secondary data to develop a framework depicting three key strategies associated with CFG’s internationalisation.

Findings

Three factors are identified as being especially pertinent in CFG’s international expansion: the composition of CFG’s top management team; the attempts to establish a unifying “City identity”; and CFG’s forays into more peripheral leagues around the world after having established itself at the “top end” of the game.

Practical implications

The framework presented in this paper is particularly oriented towards a practitioner audience. Managers of firms operating in football, as well as in other industries in which the pressure to be both globally integrated and locally responsive is particularly acute, can draw lessons from both the framework and the broader insights presented here on CFG’s global expansion.

Social implications

Football is widely regarded as the world’s most popular sport, and fans often take matters very seriously when it comes to the club they support. How football clubs are run is, therefore, a matter of considerable societal interest, as demonstrated by various fan protests over the years. As global, multi-club ownership structures like that adopted by CFG become more commonplace, this study will provide football fans with some insight into the strategies of these companies and how their own clubs fit within these ownership models.

Originality/value

This study addresses an under-researched topic: the international expansion of a prominent football holding company.

Details

Review of International Business and Strategy, vol. 34 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-6014

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 30 October 2020

Vanessa Ratten

Football is the world’s most popular sport and produces its own innovation ecosystem due to its linkage with economic, community and social endeavors. This chapter focuses on the…

Abstract

Football is the world’s most popular sport and produces its own innovation ecosystem due to its linkage with economic, community and social endeavors. This chapter focuses on the way football clubs are innovative in terms of new product, service, system and technology development. Increasingly due to the digitalization of the global economy, more football clubs are focusing on innovation especially that related to technology. Thus, it is important to understand the role open innovation plays in fostering collaboration among ecosystem members. In addition, due to many football clubs having a social responsibility to their community at local, regional and international levels, it is important to understand the role leaders play in facilitating innovation. Therefore, this chapter also focuses on the role of social innovation in football ecosystems.

Details

Sport Startups: New Advances in Entrepreneurship
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78973-082-1

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 9 March 2023

Ally Forbes, Kay Biscomb and Jean Williams

The launch of the Football Association's (FA) Women's Super League in 2011 was a major milestone towards the professionalisation of women's football in England. The league's…

Abstract

The launch of the Football Association's (FA) Women's Super League in 2011 was a major milestone towards the professionalisation of women's football in England. The league's formation aimed to increase the competitiveness of elite women's football in England at domestic and international level (Dunn & Welford, 2015). In 2014 the league expanded, creating a second division now known as the FA Women's Championship. This chapter explores the impact of the professionalisation of women's football in England on the second tier of women's football, by examining how players and staff at a Women's Championship club are negotiating the transition from amateur to semi-professional status. This qualitative project adopted a single case-study approach. Observations took place on home match-days to explore the match-day experience. Follow-up semi-structured interviews were then carried out with players and staff. The empirical data highlighted the key challenges and opportunities faced by clubs and their players as women's football continues to develop in this professional era. The introduction of the Women's Championship has helped to bridge the gap between amateur and professional club football in England. However, the experiences of the players and staff illustrate that operating effectively in the Women's Championship required significant sacrifice. Players were required to meet the more professional demands that were being placed upon them, without receiving any significant financial rewards for their commitments. Paid staff roles were underpinned by precarity, with the funded staff roles disappearing should the club not be able to maintain its Championship status.

Details

Women’s Football in a Global, Professional Era
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80071-053-5

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 October 2023

Enrico Supino and Maurizio Marano

This article explores the value creation process from player sales in football to understand if the related capital gains correspond to significant increases in the stock value of…

Abstract

Purpose

This article explores the value creation process from player sales in football to understand if the related capital gains correspond to significant increases in the stock value of selling companies. In addition, it aims to detect any potential drivers for higher (or slower) abnormal stock returns.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors analyze all the capital gains of the Italian and Portuguese listed football companies (the only ones for which, based on their annual reports, it was possible to trace the net book value for each player sold and, consequently, if any, the related capital gain) from 2012 to 2020 and use event study analysis to calculate the abnormal returns of the football companies' stocks. Moreover, the authors use a multiple linear regression model to identify the factors affecting investors' reactions and value creation process intensity.

Findings

The results show that, on average, the capital gains from player transfers in football are positive income components and produce statistically significant higher abnormal returns. In addition, the authors identified some relevant drivers related to their intensity which could guide the choices of corporate executives regarding future disposals of the multi-year performance rights of players in the roster.

Research limitations/implications

This study considers only Italian and Portuguese football listed companies. It would be helpful to consider some of the companies from other countries which are also outstanding from the sports perspective, but, in practice, it was not possible due to the impossibility to trace the net book value of the single footballers sold in those clubs' public financial disclosure.

Practical implications

The value relevance of the capital gains from player trading activities should increase their importance, creating cascade effects on several activities generating value for football clubs (youth sector management, player scouting, technical improvement of the players). In addition, financial data show that the capital gains from player transfers are a basic income of European football clubs nowadays. Their executives consider these operations recurrent and continually search for more valuable transfers. Hence, it is reasonable to think that they (will) choose the players to sell considering both sports and financial aspects.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study exploring the effects of capital gains from player trading activities on professional football clubs' stock value. The results obtained are even more relevant if one considers the importance these income components have in the profit formula of professional football clubs nowadays, also because of the negative repercussions caused by the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

Details

Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, vol. 14 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-678X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 October 2023

Nahid Atghia and Ali Nazarian

Financial problems of football clubs during economic crises (such as COVID-19 pandemic) highlight the necessity of achieving economic sustainability. In addition, the economic…

Abstract

Purpose

Financial problems of football clubs during economic crises (such as COVID-19 pandemic) highlight the necessity of achieving economic sustainability. In addition, the economic sustainability of football clubs is accepted as a principle of the development of sports business. Therefore, it is reasonable to conduct a study with the aim of examining economic sustainability in the field of sports club management.

Design/methodology/approach

The present study adopted a qualitative approach to research and used semi-structured interviews in order to develop a framework for the economic sustainability of football clubs. A total of 13 members of football clubs in the Iranian premier league participated in this study.

Findings

The findings highlighted the fact that a number of factors, including media and social networks, entrepreneurship and development of club business, commercialization of the club, privatization, investment and ownership, strategic communication plan, financial management and management instability, promoted the economic sustainability of football clubs and improved their financial performance.

Originality/value

This study highlighted the importance of the changes in the structure of football clubs and the strategic plans for promoting entrepreneurship and commercialization. Moreover, it underlined the major role of the environmental and management components of football clubs in their financial sustainability.

Details

Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal, vol. 14 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-678X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 September 2023

Irvine Lapsley

This study aims to add to the understanding of the significance of football in cities, where most major football clubs are located. Specifically, this study offers a distinctive…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to add to the understanding of the significance of football in cities, where most major football clubs are located. Specifically, this study offers a distinctive perspective on what might be regarded as “football cities” by the study's mobilisation of theories of the urban mosaic, the calculable city and identity. This study contributes to the emergent field of popular culture (Jeacle, 2012) and, within this field of popular culture, the significance of soccer. The particular setting of this study is the city. This paper is a contribution to the established accounting literature on city studies but within the neglected study of football in cities.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper's focus is on the significance of football clubs in one city. The theoretical approach adopted is a blending of studies of the urban mosaic (Timms, 1975), the calculable city (Lapsley et al., 2010) and the established trend of identification studies in accounting. This investigation was undertaken in the city of Edinburgh by observation of football in city life. This research is a form of participant observation in which the author lived in the city in this study. The researcher undertook interviews with key actors in both football clubs and city management, made use of local media and scrutinised publicly available documents on both the clubs and the city administrations.

Findings

This research reveals the importance of the city mosaic in explaining the limited significance of football in this city. This approach underlines the merits of contextual studies. However, the evidence presented also reveals the presence of strong identity relationships between football clubs and the clubs' fans. These results reveal an internal perspective on city management and the activities of football clubs and the clubs' host city. The presence of multiple football clubs in a single city offers more diffuse identity relationships, with football clubs fostering stronger identification with the club than with the city. There is also evidence of single, dual and multiple identity relationships in this study which contrasts with the single identity perspectives of prior accounting research.

Research limitations/implications

The focus of this paper is on the research question posed in the Call for Papers - Is there a Soccer Society? The findings of this study offer only limited evidence of a soccer society.

Practical implications

There is a need to study other cities with football clubs to determine those which are mosaics and those which are dominated by football.

Social implications

This a study which embraces the importance of social context in finding meaning in accounting research. This paper introduces the novel concept of the city mosaic which is a novel way of understanding different city contexts.

Originality/value

Prior research on football has examined fans' behaviour, financial crises at football clubs and governance structures. This paper extends these earlier analyses by addressing the social context of football clubs in the city. Whilst most accounting research revealed rapid changes in identity during reforms, this study reveals a more complex relationship which aims to build continuity and commitment of fans' identity with the bigger football clubs in this city.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 37 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 27 March 2023

Deborah Agostino and Anna Thomasson

This study explores the relationship between governance model – private organisations vs non-profit organisations (NPOs) – and performance in football clubs.

Abstract

Purpose

This study explores the relationship between governance model – private organisations vs non-profit organisations (NPOs) – and performance in football clubs.

Design/methodology/approach

The study is a comparative case study of two football clubs with different governance models: Malmö FF, which is an NPO, and Bologna FC, which is a privately owned club.

Findings

The results show that both football clubs focus equally on financial and non-financial performance, and in practice, both clubs use a blend of private and NPO governance models. While supporting efforts towards financial results, blending the models appears to support football clubs' management of the tension between financial and non-financial performance and the expectation that they will contribute to local development. Thus, using a blend of the two models is not only accepted but expected.

Research limitations/implications

This study is a comparative case study of two football clubs. This study furthers our understanding of how football clubs manage the tension between financial and non-financial performance expectations. This is particularly of interest in light of the increasing professionalisation of sports, especially football, and how this might jeopardise the contributions that sport clubs make to the local community.

Originality/value

By exploring the relationship between governance model and performance, this study shows that, contrary to expectations, privately owned football clubs focus as much on non-financial performance as clubs governed as NPOs. This study contributes to the existing literature by showing how clubs use a mixture of elements from governance models to manage the tension between financial and non-financial performance that has emerged in the wake of the increasing professionalisation of football.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 37 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 27 March 2023

Massimo Ruberti

This study explores the motivations underlying the European Super League (SL) breakaway attempt. While institutional settings bind football to tradition, investors conceive…

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Abstract

Purpose

This study explores the motivations underlying the European Super League (SL) breakaway attempt. While institutional settings bind football to tradition, investors conceive football companies as an opportunity to diversify their investments in a fast-growing technological industry. The study investigates the market structure and identifies the reasons behind the European football crisis, proposing to modify the role of Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) in the European football market.

Design/methodology/approach

After summarizing the unusual features of the European football market, the article displays the agents involved and their interrelations. Modeling the market facilitates picturing the misalignment of targets of regulatory bodies and football clubs. It also helps visualize the potential consequences of the SL coup on the market.

Findings

The market does not allow football companies to monetize their business and compete with other entertainment sectors. Only a radical change in the balance of power between clubs and self-interested institutional settings can settle this situation. Indeed, this relation leads to market inefficiency because the two most critical clubs' financial problems (the high dependence on broadcasting revenues and the uncontrolled expenditures on players' salaries) are linked to the same issue: the governing bodies strongly influence the profit equation by holding control of media rights and incentivizing clubs to overspend to win both on-field and off-field.

Originality/value

This study is the first to assess the football business market using an evolutionary approach to address its problems. It offers a visualizing tool to understand the market and proposes an alternative solution for solving the football market crisis.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 37 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

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