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From the 2006-2007 season, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) introduced regulation into European football by imposing “home-grown” quotas on clubs. The purpose of this paper is to remedy partial market failure by influencing issues in the game, namely reducing opportunities for “local” players and stockpiling players. Rule changes have amplified the importance of developing “home-grown” players; however, the UEFA rule is not limited by nationality, which is an inhibiting factor.

The sample used was the ten seasons from the introduction of the legislation (2006-2007 to 2015-2016). The results quantify English player production in these ten seasons, focusing on outputs (number of players, top-flight playing statistics, academy attended, club played for, age and international experience). Clubs are also categorised and analysed by the number of seasons played.

A total of 369 English players have debuted since 2006-2007, although only 141 developed through the eight “category 1” (ever-present) clubs. A high proportion of players are developing at elite clubs but having limited playing time and subsequently transferring to lower ranked clubs. The clubs promoted to the English Premier League (EPL) each season have introduced more English players into the EPL (167) than “category 1” clubs (112), and these clubs account for a minority of minutes played by new entrants (13 per cent). Furthermore, clubs outside the EPL are producing a significant number of English players, including those progressing to the national team.

Competing organisational purposes between the EPL, the FA and professional clubs have combined to create a complex environment and options for the future are discussed.

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.

The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) legislative intervention around “home-grown” player quotas came into effect for the 2006-2007 season, aiming to protect playing opportunities and the development of indigenous talent. Previous research has identified clear differences between clubs and club types regarding opportunities for academy players. This paper aims to examine the outputs from six European leagues (France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and England), identifying differences between national associations, club type, and on an individual club level. The paper investigates different league structure (in terms of allowing reserve teams in the professional leagues) and assesses UEFAs legislation in relation to programme theory (expected outcomes).

The study is based on playing data from 200 clubs and 3,329 indigenous players making their debut in one of the six leagues since 2006, and includes ten seasons of competition to 2015-2016.

The number of players produced and playing opportunities offered since 2006 are more prominent in the Spanish, The Netherlands, French and German leagues compared to Italy and England. For those clubs competing in all ten seasons, a similar pattern emerges with those four nations producing greater outputs. Four clubs significantly outperform others in terms of producing players reaching any top-six league first team, and for their own academy graduates. Additionally, the four leagues allowing reserve teams in their professional structure have a higher level of “output” for their academy players.

The paper discusses issues in the design of the legislation (not making nationality a factor and being unable to control other dominant variables) as key weaknesses to influencing change, and achieve the rationale cited by UEFA for its introduction.

This study aimed to identify subgroups of esports players based on their gaming behavior patterns across game genres and compare self-efficacy, social efficacy, loneliness and three dimensions of quality of life between these subgroups.

324 participants were recruited from prolific academic to complete an online survey. We employed latent profile analysis (LPA) to identify subgroups of esports players based on their behavioral patterns across genres. Additionally, a one-way multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) was conducted to test the association between cluster memberships and development and well-being outcomes, controlling for age and gender as covariates.

LPA analysis identified five clusters (two single-genre gamer groups, two multigenre gamer groups and one all-genre gamer group). Univariate analyses indicated the significant effect of the clusters on social efficacy, psychological health and social health. Pairwise comparisons highlighted the salience of the physical enactment-plus-sport simulation genre group in these outcomes.

This study contributes to the understanding of the development and well-being benefits experienced by various esports consumers, as well as the role of specific gameplay in facilitating targeted outcomes among these consumer groups.

Floorball is a Swedish sports innovation which emerged and started to be played about 40 years ago. The purpose of this paper is to explore value capturing in this relatively new sport and the various contributions made by different actors towards market development of the sport.

The research utilizes a theoretical framework of value capturing in professional team sports for research. The analysis is based upon 13 semi-structured interviews with representatives from three groups, “players/coaches,” “board members and “manufacturers/retailers.”

All economic actors within the research framework contribute to various extents to the market development of the sport, yet they all need to cooperate, exemplifying that innovation for market development and value for the sport can only be co-created.

The sample is taken from the Swedish market and may, thus, be considered biased.

All economic actors within the research framework contribute to market development of the sport to various degrees, yet they all need to cooperate, exemplifying that innovation for market development and value for the sport can only be co-created.

This paper provides unique insights into the development of floorball as a “new” sport.

The purpose of this research is to reveal the specific features of the behaviour of market players in the collaboration of universities and business structures in the context of the digital economy's development. The traditional processes of collaboration of science and business are compared to the partnership under the conditions of open science.

This research is based on the totality of concepts and theories, founded on the theory of non-linearity of innovations, which allows defining them as a bilateral process that is open to other players. The list of market players, which participate in the process of collaboration, and the character of their interaction are considered from the position of the triple innovation spiral. The specifics of the collaboration of scientific and business structures are considered from the position of knowledge exchange, and the means of their organisation – from the position of the theory of university-industry collaboration. This methodology allows determining the key aspects of collaboration as a process of knowledge exchange and systematising the range of tools and channels of innovation transfer. The evolutionary game theory is used for the empirical evaluation of the specifics of the market players' behaviour in the process of collaboration. The context of the support of the digital economy is considered within the concepts of open innovations, organisation of scientific digital networks and Open Science. The methods used allow for the systemic reflection of the processes related to the behaviour of market players in the collaboration of universities and business structures and the determination of the key advantages that are achieved by them for the support of the digital economy.

It is determined that the digital economy is a result of innovative development and its trigger at the same time. Based on this, the behaviour of market players uses digital potential, on the one hand, and creates conditions for its support, on the other hand. Collaboration is one of the formal tools of the transfer of innovations, which partially covers the interaction with such tools and channels as intellectual property, academic spin-offs, research mobility and labour mobility. Based on the theory of the triple spiral of innovative development, it is stated that business structures and universities are the key elements of innovations. Their interaction is increased by the influence of the government policy and allows creating effective forms of collaboration, which facilitate the knowledge exchange within the system. At this, the business performs the functions of investing and provision of collaboration, universities implement the key processes connected to fundamental research, and government expands the innovative capabilities, stimulating the growth of competitiveness and resolution of social problems. The important problems of the market players' behaviour in the process of scientific and research collaboration are the organisation of the process of knowledge exchange, which is related to intellectual rights, and the difference between the goals of market players at the initial stages of cooperation. Resolution of the above problems allows raising the level of mutual trust and facilitates the processes of knowledge exchange.

We systematise the tools and channels of collaboration of universities and business structures, substantiate the principles and terms of the market players' behaviour in the process of knowledge exchange, and determine the role of each player. In the context of modern tendencies of the digital economy's development, we determine the specifics of the market players' behaviour in the context of using digital technologies and providing a high level of openness of the scientific and production partnership.

This study quantifies academy productivity within English football clubs that have competed in the second tier (Championship) between 2017 and 2020. Previous research has outlined that clubs situated underneath the top leagues have an important role in the development of elite professional players. This study aims to examine that level of the pathway further in England.

The utilisation of academy players was conducted with data from 33 eligible clubs, from 2017/2018 to 2019/2020. Two measures of productivity are defined for comparison: “Utilisation” (the total minutes played by academy graduates) and “Starts” (the number of times an academy player started for the first team). To quantify these measures, players and clubs’ indices were also defined through two perspectives: “global” (proportion of all games played from 2017/2018 to 2019/2020) and “local” (proportion of games the player featured only). Nationality and position were also included.

Headline findings demonstrate large differences between clubs for the type and proportion of playing opportunities created. The data outlines that academy graduates have greater utilisation and starts in cup competitions, particularly the English Football League cup. Clubs in the sample being relegated from the Premier League into the Championship recorded weaker “utilisation” and “starts” compared to those that competed in the lower divisions. Academies are producing and using a greater proportion of defensive players (goalkeepers, defenders, defensive midfielders) compared to more attacking sectors of the pitch.

This offers useful insight for academy managers, allowing comparisons between clubs. It has implications for future strategies around the role of the academy and approaches to generating player opportunity.

The purpose of this research is to substantiate the processes of implementing the electronic forms of business integration under the conditions of digital transformation by market players.

The methods used in this research include cooperative game theory, systemic analysis and statistical analysis.

This research presents the substantiation of the processes of implementing the electronic forms of business integration under the conditions of digital transformation by market players. The proprietary methodology of evaluation of the set problems includes three procedures: analysis of the electronic forms of business integration that are used in the digital economy in the world, which envisages their systematisation; evaluation of the effectiveness of implementing the processes of business integration with the use of such forms and their forecast estimation under the condition of individual development of the market environment's players, as well as determination of advantages; and development of the practical implications for managing the electronic forms of business integration for the national companies of developing countries (with forecasting based on the cooperative game theory). The modern electronic forms of business integration include electronic cash (e-cash), electronic data interchange, electronic banking (e-banking), electronic marketing (e-marketing), electronic insurance (e-insurance) and electronic trade (e-trade). Analysis of the effectiveness of implementing the processes of business integration with the use of the electronic forms is performed based on electronic trade, which is used under the conditions of the functioning of digital trade platforms (Internet stores). Such digital trade platforms, as the forms of business strategies, are Amazon and eBay Inc. These two American companies were selected because the United States has the leading position in this sphere. The comparative analysis showed the advantages of participation of players in partnership with the use of electronic trade within two digital platforms, connected to cost saving on advertising and organisation of trade. The practical implications of implementing the electronic forms of business integration for the national companies of developing countries are also presented; they are formed based on the practice of implementing the advantages revealed in the activities of the digital trade platforms Amazon and eBay Inc.

The originality and value of this research are due to the further development of provisions on the specifics of the process of implementing the electronic forms of business integration under the conditions of digital transformation by market players.

The Australian Football League (AFL) is the premier sporting competition in Australia in terms of capital outlay, breadth of industry associations, public consumption, and arguably cultural significance. The AFL competition is now a domain of specialisations and interests, which provides vast opportunity for both sporting and non-sporting institutions seeking to utilise the game to capitalise on a society of consumption, entertainment and risk. AFL officials expect high standards of their players both on and off the field. These standards are expressed in various forms of Codes and Policies. Off field player misconduct is an ongoing concern not escaping media attention, which is a resounding indication more needs to be done by the AFL to improve responsible player character development. Whether the current education programmes are sufficient to meet the AFL’s own expectations is the central issue addressed in this chapter. As it stands AFL governance is deficient on several counts. In this chapter I will focus on three governance deficiencies: firstly, the AFL Illicit Drug Policy (IDP) contains unnecessary inconsistencies relative to its primary purpose; secondly, the present measures undertaken to ensure players have appropriate education to achieve the expected character development are far from efficacious and so arguably can be vastly improved; and thirdly, the promotion of live-odds gambling during televised games is culturally problematic and inconsistent with its own demands. The ethical grounds central to this investigation are ‘fairness’ and ‘cultural influence’. In order to resolve some of its governance concerns I will explain why the AFL should be characterised as a practice-community and as such should adopt a comprehensive virtue and value-based compliance ethical education programme consistent with its own vision and conduct expectation of its players and officials. I will argue that the AFL as a practice community is much more than simply a game, given its cultural influence, commercial associations and community programmes.

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.