International orientation of professional football beyond Europe

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-114
Author(s):  
A. Carolin Fleischmann ◽  
Martin Fleischmann
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
High Growth ◽  
Professional Football ◽  
Content Type ◽  
International Orientation ◽  
Qualitative Survey ◽  
Football Clubs ◽  
European Football ◽  
English Premier League ◽  
Home Region

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how professional football clubs from the English Premier League, German Bundesliga and Spanish Primera División use digital media to expand their international reach in emerging football markets (EFM) outside of Europe. Based on the EPRG framework and Rugman’s home-region hypothesis, the aim is to broaden the perspective where “sports go global” for a further understanding of actors’ international orientation in the digital sphere. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on data from desk research and a qualitative survey, comprising information on international digital media activities of 58 European clubs. Cluster analysis is used to identify different international orientations with regard to digital media activities. Findings The data provide evidence that clubs differ strongly in their orientations towards EFM. While some global players that provide digital media content in several EFM languages and attract a large share of Facebook followers from EFM exist, other clubs focus on their home region. League-specific differences become apparent. Originality/value This study determines the international online orientations of European football clubs by combining two previously separated research streams in football management studies: internationalisation and digital media activities. Most clubs with a strong EFM fan base choose polycentric, multi-language digital media strategies, followed by geocentric, standardised approaches. By offering a novel angle on internationalisation in professional football, this study contributes towards optimising clubs’ international online strategies for EFM, which are markets that promise high growth rates.

Internationalisation and branding strategy

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 747-766 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E. Hinson ◽  
Ellis Osabutey ◽  
John Paul Kosiba ◽  
Frederick O. Asiedu
Keyword(s):  
Brand Equity ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
International Markets ◽  
Professional Football ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Foreign Markets ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Market Expansion ◽  
Football Clubs ◽  
English Premier League

Purpose The purpose of this study is to analyse how professional football clubs have attained success with internationalisation and branding strategies in foreign markets. Design/methodology/approach Based on an inductive approach, 27 semi-structured interviews were conducted to analyse the perceptions of Ghanaian fans of four English Premier League teams. Findings The findings of this study highlight that the strength of professional football brand equity is jointly determined by the level of brand awareness, brand loyalty and perceived quality. However, increasing competition in international markets require professional football clubs to clearly define their marketing strategies to improve how fans perceive them. Originality/value This paper is one of the few studies to use country-of-origin paradigm and signalling theory to explain football brand equity building, thereby extending the earlier work of Chanavat and Bodet (2009). Its empirical focus on Africa is also unique and provides evidence to suggest that global marketers have the opportunity to capitalise on market expansion opportunities in developing economies.

Assessing the survival of shirt sponsorships in English football: an exchange theory perspective

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 477-494
Author(s):  
Jonathan A. Jensen ◽  
Akash Mishra ◽  
Mara Averick
Keyword(s):  
Survival Analysis ◽  
Sport Organizations ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Past ◽  
Revenue Forecasting ◽  
Football Clubs ◽  
Sport Industry ◽  
European Football ◽  
One Year ◽  
English Premier League

Purpose Over the past several years, growth in sponsorship spending has surpassed that of traditional marketing and promotional approaches, as it has become an indispensable part of the marketing mix. Yet, despite considerable advances in the application of analytics across the sport industry, sponsorship revenue forecasting still largely relies on a decades-old methodology. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach This research seeks to assist sport organizations by applying more advanced survival analysis methodologies to the study of shirt sponsorships of football clubs, utilizing more than 300 sponsorships of every team that has competed in the English Premier League (EPL) over the past 25 years. Findings The analysis of the lifetimes of shirt sponsorships provides several insights for those employed by European football clubs and tasked with managing these increasingly lucrative sponsorships. Notably, tests confirmed that survivor functions of EPL shirt sponsorships are significantly different than those that appeared solely in English Football League (EFL) Championship play. In addition, results found that the median lifetimes of shirt sponsorships of EPL clubs were more than one year longer, when compared to EFL clubs. Originality/value This research marks the first attempt in the literature to apply survival analysis methods to describe the lifetimes of European football shirt sponsorships. The results provide empirical evidence that the potential effects of promotion or relegation could have consequences for football clubs in the tens of millions of dollars, and illustrate the importance of providing those tasked with managing such partnerships with more advanced methodologies to assist in the organization’s sponsorship revenue forecasting activities.

Interactions between financial efficiency and sports performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dina Miragaia ◽  
João Ferreira ◽  
Alexandre Carvalho ◽  
Vanessa Ratten
Keyword(s):  
Professional Football ◽  
Financial Efficiency ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Financial Variables ◽  
Football Clubs ◽  
Economic Climate ◽  
European Football ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Large Groups ◽  
Inputs And Outputs

Purpose In the current economic climate, the huge rise in the levels of debt incurred by professional football clubs challenges the need to improve their efficiency levels. Hence, analysis of their productivity is essential and represents an integral dimension to any realistic and efficient strategy. Any such strategy includes the identification and analysis of the inputs and outputs that underpin club sustainability. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relationship between the team performance of professional European football clubs and the stability of their financial efficiency. Design/methodology/approach The sample spans 15 professional football clubs that won the league titles in the leading football leagues (the English, German, Spanish, Italian and French leagues) in the period between 2009 and 2014. The analysis made recourse to the data envelopment analysis method. Findings The results demonstrate that of the 15 clubs analysed, only 10 proved efficient. Football is now an industry that moves major quantities of financial capital and holds the attentions of large groups of fans worldwide. However, despite this attractiveness, the financial crisis and recession, ongoing since 2008, increasingly requires the better management of such resources. To this end, clubs should improve their control over the financial resources available given the positive relationship prevailing between the sporting performance of clubs and their levels of financial efficiency. Originality/value Analysis of the efficiency levels of the inputs and outputs encapsulating performance related financial variables may aid in improving the standards of planning and sustainable management at professional sport clubs.

The financial impact of the financial fair play policy on Spanish football

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Fernández-Villarino ◽  
J. Andrés Domínguez-Gómez
Keyword(s):  
Financial Performance ◽  
Fiscal Year ◽  
Professional Football ◽  
Content Type ◽  
General Terms ◽  
Football Clubs ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Law ◽  
Compliance With The Law ◽  
Positive Effect

PurposeThis study aims to explore how responsible corporate behaviour, specifically self-imposed financial regulatory control, might subsequently be reflected in the financial performance of companies subject to such regulation.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, the authors aim to explore how financial compliance in the form of the Economic Control Regulation (ECR) has impacted on the financial performance of professional football clubs in Spain. To this purpose, the authors adopted a quasi-experimental before and after study design. This type of design assesses the object of study before and after a specific event in order to determine whether this event has had any effects on the object. In this case, the event was the coming into effect of the ECR in the fiscal year of 2012, and the object hypothetically affected was the clubs’ economic performance.FindingsThe authors can confirm that in general terms and for the whole set of clubs analysed, the ECR has had a strong and positive effect on financial performance.Research limitations/implicationsIn this study, the authors wish to establish a link between the idea of “compliance” and that of “responsible corporate management practice”. It is not just a matter of compliance with the law. The fact of complying with certain laws could, in general terms, or from the point of view of common sense, be qualified as “responsible behaviour”. However, under the contemporary concept of corporate responsibility, compliance with the law is a behaviour that must be taken for granted. Responsibility, therefore, would entail going beyond such expected behaviour to one that exceeds the environment's expectation of the corporate actor.Practical implicationsWhat extent improvements in financial performance have also boosted social performance. Confirming such a positive effect endorses the argument that ethical improvements in corporate culture have a general effect on business sustainability in its different aspects: economic, social, environmental and in governance.Social implicationsThe authors may foresee that the culture of compliance will spread from the finance departments to other management areas. Its connection with ethical business practice is directly linked to the more complex concept of the “citizen company”. There are suggest interesting bases on which professional football clubs might move from a traditional profit-oriented company model towards a more contemporary one oriented towards relationships of integrity with the sport's environment. This study shows that the ECR has been a starting point for the development of Spanish professional football clubs towards this type of “citizen company”.Originality/valueIt was a single-sector study whose principal value lies in the verification of whether responsible economic management (the main consequence of applying the ECR) had any effects on company profits, financial results and other important indicators. In addition to fostering responsibility, this new management model involves a special innovation, as it is based on self-regulation (i.e. on regulations not imposed by national or supranational states), designed and implemented to ensure the sector's viability.

Career patterns of marketing managers in top European football clubs

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karolina Nessel
Keyword(s):  
Sports Management ◽  
Career Patterns ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Marketing Managers ◽  
Football Clubs ◽  
European Football ◽  
Main Activity ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Functional Experience ◽  
Football Industry

PurposeThe goal of this research was to explore career patterns of senior marketing managers in the best European football clubs (SMMEFCs).Design/methodology/approachThe data came from the LinkedIn profiles of current and past SMMEFCs. Firstly, the optimal matching algorithm was used to determine clusters of pathways leading to a first SMMEFC position based on the main activity of the employing organisation. Secondly, these patterns were compared in terms of variables depicting the career paths, clubs and managers. Finally, the evolution of the post-SMMEFC careers was analysed.FindingsPeople in their first SMMEFC positions are mainly male with a university degree in business and marketing, and with a predominantly functional experience in marketing. There are five ways to become an SMMEFC: through business (40% of the sample), football (32%), other sports (11%), marketing and communication (11%), and media (6%). As the majority of SMMEFCs come to their positions from outside the sporting world, the specificity of the football industry is not a serious obstacle. Instead, the careers are bounded by functional marketing experience. Among the individual sequences leading to a first SMMEFC position, only around half of the football cluster may be considered traditional careers. Football, and sports in general, seem attractive for post-SMMEFC career development for the majority of managers coming from all pathways.Originality/valueThe study is the first one to quantify career patterns in professional sports management. It provides new insights about marketing careers and practice in European club football.

Do match officials give preferential treatment to the strongest football teams? An analysis of four top European clubs

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 185-199 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Audrino
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Power ◽  
Causal Effect ◽  
Preferential Treatment ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Premier League ◽  
Football Clubs ◽  
European Football ◽  
Effect Estimation ◽  
English Premier League ◽  
General Opinion

Abstract We address the fiercely debated question of whether the strongest European football clubs get special, preferential treatment from match officials in their decisions on the teams’ players over the course of the teams’ trophy winning streaks. To give an empirical answer to this question, we apply a rigorous econometric analysis for causal effect estimation to a self-constructed data set. We consider the two clubs in the Italian Serie A that experienced a prolonged winning streak during the period 2006–2016, namely Internazionale Milan (Inter) and Juventus Turin, as well as one team from the German Bundesliga (Borussia Dortmund) and one from the English Premier League (Manchester United) that also experienced a winning streak during the same period. This allows us to perform an analysis with enough statistical power to be able to estimate properly the effect of interest. The general opinion among fans, sports journalists, and insiders that the strongest clubs are favored by match officials’ decisions is supported only by the results of the analysis we run for Juventus, whereas for the other clubs under investigation, we did not find any significant bias. During its winning streak, more yellow cards and total booking points (an aggregated measure of yellow and red cards) were given to Juventus opponents. These effects are not only statistically significant, but also have a sizeable impact.

Scoring goals in multiple fields

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Petros Parganas ◽  
Roman Liasko ◽  
Christos Anagnostopoulos
Keyword(s):  
Team Performance ◽  
Statistical Tests ◽  
Profit Maximization ◽  
Economic Research ◽  
Professional Football ◽  
Linear Modeling ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Professional Team Sports ◽  
Football Clubs

Purpose Professional football clubs currently strive for a number of concurrent goals, ranging from on-field success to profit maximization to fan expansion and engagement. The purpose of this paper, theoretically informed by the social penetration theory, is to analyze the economics behind such goals and examine the association between team performance, commercial success, and social media followers in professional team sports. Design/methodology/approach A data set relating to 20 European professional football clubs that combines financial (revenues and costs), sporting, and digital-reach measures for three consecutive football seasons (2013/2014 to 2015/2016) was used. In addition, to elaborate on this data in terms of a descriptive study, the study constructs a range of correlation statistical tests and linear modeling techniques to obtain quantitative results. Findings The results indicate that all the three main sources of club revenues (match-day, commercial/sponsorship, and broadcasting) are positive drivers for Facebook followers. Staff investments (staff costs) are also positively related to Facebook followers, albeit to a lesser extent, while higher-ranked clubs seem to follow a constant approach in terms of their revenues and cost structure. Originality/value This study seeks to bridge the communication and sport economic research, providing evidence that Facebook followers are part of the cyclical phenomenon of team revenues and team performance. In doing so, it initiates a debate on the relationship between the digital expansion of a football club and its sports and financial indicators.

scholarly journals FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL INDUSTRY: TRENDS ANALYSIS AND DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (36) ◽  
pp. 471-480
Author(s):  
V. Reikin
Keyword(s):  
Annual Reports ◽  
Professional Football ◽  
Economic Aspects ◽  
Academic Field ◽  
Current Trends ◽  
Football Clubs ◽  
Theoretical Generalization ◽  
European Football ◽  
Football Industry ◽  
The Impact

The purpose of the study is the analysis of financial and economic aspects and assessment of current trends and prospects for the development of professional football industry as an independent academic field. In this article the following general scientific and applied methods were used: analysis and comparison — to determine the main trends in the development of top professional football clubs in the context of globalization; generalization — to establish the influence of institutional factors on the economic results of football clubs activity; expert assessments — to determine the market value of players in the global transfer market; abstract and logical methods — for theoretical generalization of the obtained results, forecasting the prospects for the development of European professional football and formulating conclusions of the study.  The article deals with the analysis of financial and economic results of  European football top clubs functioning in the pre-crisis period (before COVID-19). The author emphasizes the dualistic origins of modern professional football, which combines sports and commercial components. It is analyzed the impact of «Bosman case» and the rules of «financial fair play» on the professional football industry development in the context of globalization. The sources and structure of football top clubs income are also analyzed. The main focus is on European football, where current trends are most clearly manifested. The source of information was the annual reports of audit firms, specialized analytical laboratories and FIFA data. As a result of globalization processes, the author predicts the creation of full-fledged «SuperLeague» championship of top clubs with the greatest financial opportunities, as well as the appearence of polycentrism phenomenon in the world football industry. The forecast scenarios of  football industry perspectives, formulated by the author, to substantiate the financial and economic aspects of clubs and players transfer market functioning, can be used in practice to assess the potential and formulate strategies for professional football leagues and clubs.

scholarly journals Time before return to play for the most common injuries in professional football: a 16-year follow-up of the UEFA Elite Club Injury Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 54 (7) ◽  
pp. 421-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Ekstrand ◽  
Werner Krutsch ◽  
Armin Spreco ◽  
Wart van Zoest ◽  
Craig Roberts ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Injury ◽  
Quadriceps Muscle ◽  
Return To Play ◽  
Professional Football ◽  
Muscle Injuries ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Expected Time ◽  
Football Clubs ◽  
Injury Occurrence ◽  
European Football

ObjectivesThe objective was to describe the typical duration of absence following the most common injury diagnoses in professional football.MethodsInjuries were registered by medical staff members of football clubs participating in the Union of European Football Association Elite Club Injury Study. Duration of absence due to an injury was defined by the number of days that passed between the date of the injury occurrence and the date when the medical team allowed the player to return to full participation. In total, 22 942 injuries registered during 494 team-seasons were included in the study.ResultsThe 31 most common injury diagnoses constituted a total of 78 % of all reported injuries. Most of these injuries were either mild (leading to a median absence of 7 days or less, 6440 cases = 42%) or moderate (median absence: 7–28 days, 56% = 8518 cases) while only few (2% = 311 cases) were severe (median absence of >28 days). The mean duration of absence from training and competition was significantly different (p < 0.05) between index injuries and re-injuries for six diagnoses (Achilles tendon pain, calf muscle injury, groin adductor pain, hamstring muscle injuries and quadriceps muscle injury) with longer absence following re-injuries for all six diagnosesConclusionsThe majority of all time loss due to injuries in professional football stems from injuries with an individual absence of up to 4 weeks. This article can provide guidelines for expected time away from training and competition for the most common injury types as well as for its realistic range.

scholarly journals Does size matter?

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 162-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Girish Ramchandani ◽  
Daniel Plumley ◽  
Harry Preston ◽  
Rob Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Competitive Balance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Premier League ◽  
European Football ◽  
Size Threshold ◽  
League Structure ◽  
Football Industry ◽  
Size Matter ◽  
English Premier League

PurposeThis paper aims to explore at what league size competitive balance reaches its best level through a longitudinal study and by using the English Premier League (EPL) as an example.Design/methodology/approachTo test the influence of league size on competitive balance in the EPL, the authors first calculated competitive balance scores for 22 seasons between 1995/96 and 2016/17 under the existing 20 team system. They then calculated a further ten normalised competitive balance scores for each EPL season by adjusting the league size to examine the league size threshold at which competitive balance in each season of the EPL was at its best level.FindingsThe analysis indicates that the current league structure of 20 teams compromises the overall level of competitive balance in the EPL in comparison with a league comprising between 10 and 19 teams. However, the authors cannot pinpoint the precise league size at which the EPL is most competitively balanced, as no significant differences were observed between the competitive balance indices for these league sizes.Originality/valueThe findings of this study have practical relevance for league organisers and the Union of European Football Associations given that they themselves have stated that competitive balance will be a big challenge for the European football industry in the coming years.

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