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In this paper, the authors empirically and theoretically analyze the scaling and control of talent development to highlight an important part of commercialization in football clubs, especially in the light of a growing transfer market.

Conducting a single case study of a Swedish football club, the authors adapt a view of the club as a “high-intensity” organization (Alvesson and Kärreman, 2004), one that inherently relies on strong identification of employees and the fostering of talent. This view allows us to detail the importance of both socio-ideological and technocratic forms of control involved in the talent development process.

The authors show how socio-ideological and technocratic forms of control were combined to establish the football club as a “talent factory” in the league, as well as the corresponding challenges when scaling talent development activities and how these challenges were handled. In doing so, the authors contribute to the broader accounting literature on talent- and human resource management, as the authors provide an example of how football clubs may commercialize without necessarily violating their fundamental sports values.

Talent management has mainly been studied in terms of increasing player wages and a focus on the cost of talent. As opposed to these perspectives, the authors highlight the revenue potential in developing players in the light of a growing transfer market and the relevance of talent development for the commercialization of football clubs.

Guided by the resource-based theory, the purpose of this study was to predict the role of football talent in the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) rankings of the men’s national football teams in the Copa America zone.

The study used archival data of Copa American national football teams. The dependent variable was FIFA rankings, and the independent variables were football talent (measured by the stocks of amateur footballers, professional footballers and football officials). Statistical analysis was performed using Kendall tau statistic and binary logistic regression.

The binary logistic regression results indicated that FIFA rankings were statistically and significantly associated with the stock of football officials and professional footballers – but not amateur footballers. The predictive model explained 80 per cent of the variance.

The study focused exclusively on the stock of football talent in each nation, and not alternative determinants of national football team competitiveness as economic power and quality of professional football leagues, among others.

The stocks of professional footballers and football officials are valuable sources of competitive advantage (CA) in national football team rankings.

The study highlighted the uniqueness and distinctiveness of a nation possessing large stocks of professional footballers which can boost the CA and rankings of Copa American national football teams.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate to what degree football clubs recruit talents and give them playing time in matches. It also investigates if foreign players displace younger talents. Furthermore, it analyses to what degree the use of younger talents and foreign players influence the performances of clubs.

The empirical data are from Norwegian elite clubs, and come from two web sites: www.altomfotball and www.nettavisen.no. The analyses were done by means of OLS-regressions.

OLS-regressions showed that clubs that had many foreign players gave less playing time to U20 players than other clubs did. However, these clubs did not have fewer younger talents in the squad than other clubs did. This indicates that foreign players reduce the playing time being given to younger players, but not their ability to train with other teammates. The clubs that won the most points gave less playing time to U20 players (in terms of minutes). Surprisingly, the regression showed that the clubs that had most foreign players did not win more points than others.

Norwegian football clubs have significantly less financial resources than, for example, clubs in the big European football nations. Therefore, more research is necessary to find out whether the findings in this research corresponds with the pattern in other nations.

So far, the discussions about these issues have mainly been based on anecdotal evidence and very little on the findings in academic research. Therefore, this research give new insight to a field that needs more empirical-based analyses.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between financial and operational performance and the application of two different talent management (TM) models: internal talent development model and external talent capture model. Comparative case studies of the Football Club Barcelona and the Real Madrid Football Club allow drawing a definitive conclusion for TM in companies related to the competitive strategy.

The two TM models are examined via a longitudinal comparative case study analysis: FC Barcelona and Real Madrid CF. Present paper builds on secondary sources: first, the TM properties of the clubs were extracted from academic sources and newspapers; second, data used to analyze the financial performance were derived from SABI database and operational performance was measured as the effectiveness in winning trophies in football championships (data gathered from Union of European Football Associations and International Federation of Football Associations databases).

The case analysis reveals that the two TM models offer equally effective financial and operational performance outcomes. The internal talent development model would be more useful for companies whose competitive advantage is achieved through differentiation through teamwork. However, companies that do not achieve a clear differentiation through teamwork should opt for the external talent capture model.

Talent is one of a company’s most important intangible assets. Although there exists a growing interest among companies as to the best way to TM, practical models on how to manage talent are virtually nonexistent. Comparative case studies from the sports arena allow for the extraction of lessons for companies related to TM and competitive strategy.

Football clubs invest in the implementation of scientific insights that improve the quality of youth academies. In the long run, clubs expect their youth academy investments to result in better trained players. The purpose of this paper is to quantify the impact of the attended youth academies' quality on the future market value of a player.

A dataset containing 94 players trained in 13 different academies has been constructed. The dataset contains characteristics of the players and information on the quality of their attended academies. The impact of the quality of the attended academies on players' future market values was estimated empirically through multiple regression analysis.

The quality of a youth academy has a significant positive impact on a player's market value, which in turn is correlated with higher future wages for players and transfer fees for clubs.

Clubs are advised to pay sufficient attention to investments in their youth academy. This will eventually lead to better trained players and higher revenues. Players in turn should strive to be part of the best academies that provide good training and the opportunity to become a top-earning player. For policymakers, such as football federations, the results imply that stimulating club investments in academies can lead to better national team performances.

The impact of the quality of a youth academy on an individual professional football player's career has never been quantified in the literature before. To this end, a new variable has been constructed using scientific assessments of youth academies.

The sports industry is a forerunner in the international quest for talent as the search by sport clubs and the corresponding self-initiated expatriation of athletes starts at a very early age. The purpose of this paper is to address this phenomenon by exploring the experiences of talented young Icelandic footballers (soccer players) in their transition from Iceland into senior-level professional football in European leagues across six dimensions – three individual and three cultural.

Biographical narrative interviews have been conducted with eight Icelandic players moving overseas at a young age with the purpose of advancing their career. To investigate the coping strategies applied, a purposeful sampling approach was chosen, given that half of the participants successfully dealt with transitions in their career, while the other half did not experience the same success.

As an overall result, the expatriate journey for young footballers is complex, influenced by many events, expectations, conditions and pressures that affect their support web and ability to adjust. Reflecting on the experiences of successful transitions, problem-focused coping strategies have been more effective than emotion-focused coping.

This study highlights some necessary conditions and coping strategies for young self-initiated sports expatriates to cope with the expatriate transition successfully.

The authors contribute to research on expatriation, as this specific group of “young professionals” has not yet been addressed by the research within international human resource management. Our research framework responds to calls in the literature to consider additional stages of player development and an array of individual and cultural factors that may have a significant role in shaping players’ careers abroad.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to evaluate the association between human resources and qualification for the 2017 Gold Cup, and second, to examine if human resources could predict qualification for the 2017 Gold Cup.

Guided by four competitive advantage (CA) theories related to the human resources, the study utilized archival data of 35 male Gold Cup national football teams. The dependent variable was qualifications for 2017 Gold Cup and the independent variables were football-specific human capital measured by ranked number of football amateurs, professionals and officials. Statistical analysis was performed using Kendell τ statistic and binary logistic regression (BLR).

Qualification for the Gold Cup tournament and all human resources were positively and statistically associated (officials (0.493, p<0.01), amateurs (0.464, p<0.01) and professionals (0.624, p<0.01)), and BLR model (Negelkerke R²) explained 55.8 percent of the variance of human resources.

The research focused exclusively on football-specific human capital and not alternative sources of CA such as economy power, political stability and/or national football popularity amongst others.

Human resources are a valuable source of CA which requires long-term strategy geared toward training, development and promotion of talent. Superior football team performance is directly proportional to talented players.

The study was unique in two ways. First, it made clear the positive significance of human resources as a source of CA. Second, it highlighted the distinction between professional and amateur footballers – a factor uncommon in similar studies.

The purpose of this paper is to report a critical analysis of the plan recently launched by the Chinese Government for the development of the football industry in China. The analysis encompasses the impact exerted by the new policy instrument on the Eurocentric trend that configured the power relations in the football realm, as well as the challenges raised by barriers deeply rooted in culture that Chinese authorities should face in order to foster pervasive change and thus create the conditions for success.

The analysis of the policy document has been carried out under the light of the theory of innovation, namely, the contributions of Peter Drucker, who looks at innovation as a means to foster change in the social and economic environment, inducing new patterns of behaviour and creating new habits. This theoretical framework provides ground to the analytical endeavour because the Chinese plan for football development presents the overall goal of shifting the habits of sporting practice and consumption.

The first and most visible “innovative” effect of the policy took the form of a shock provoking an unprecedented change in the geopolitics of football and the inherent disturbance in the traditional Eurocentric structure of football power relations. At the domestic level, the Chinese Government is assuming the “educating” role in order to change behaviour and habits, that is, to ensure the transformative power necessary to overcome barriers deeply rooted in culture. Accordingly, rather than the availability of financial resources, the capacity to materialise this pervasive switch in behaviour and habits in terms of football practice and consumption is the major challenge, the one of a social innovation endeavour.

The research reported in this paper provides an original and innovative approach to the analysis of a sports relevant public policy document, namely, because of the theoretical framework wrapping up the analytical endeavour.

The aim of this paper is to explore how the paradox of individualism/tribalism is brought into play and negotiated by consumers in the wake of the post-postmodern era.

The paper draws on netnographic and interview data from the Greek football manager (FM) online gaming community. FM is a simulation strategy game in which players act as “real-life” managers from the screen of their computer.

A central paradox and a set of four supporting paradoxes are identified. These paradoxes give rise to a transitional mode of experience, which lies on the borders of reality and fantasy, and is realised both at the individual and the tribal levels.

This study makes a threefold contribution. First, it advances the understanding of the paradoxical aspects of consumption experiences in light of post-postmodern consumer culture. Second, it shows how these paradoxes are negotiated by consumers between individual and tribal levels. Third, it extends the understanding of the nature of consumption experiences through the development of the concept of the transitional consumption experience.