Programme - FIFA/CIES International University Network

Programme
From 08h30
09h00 - 09h30
09h30 - 10h00
10h00 - 10h45
10h45 - 11h15
11h15 - 11h45
11h45 - 14h00
14h00 - 14h30
14h30 - 15h00
15h00 - 15h15
Welcome - Coffee & refreshments
Corporations + Athletes + Federations + NGOs = Power in
Numbers: The Future of CSR: Ashley Ehlert (American), Flávia
Sant’anna Lopes (Brazilian), In’utu J. Mubanga (Zambian), Petra
Skrabar (Slovenian), Sophia Smith (British/ Greek)
The Art of Representing People - The Case of Football Agents:
Alireza Tahsini (Iranian), Dai Tatai (Japanese), Ernest Yeboah
Acheapong (Ghanaian), Samson Adamu (Nigerian)
Coffee Break
How Clubs Can Manage The Contractual Stability of
Professional Football Players in a Context of International
Mobility: Diego F. R. Compaire (Italian), Gerardo Planas Rodriguez
Alcala (Paraguayan), Stefan-Eric Wildemann (German)
Indian League: A Suitable Product for T.V.? Gonzalo Bossart
(Chilean/ Swiss), Manoel Medeiros Flores Junior (Brazilian),
Pedro Presa Rodrigues (Portuguese), Taufique Ahmed (Indian)
Buffet lunch for all participants & guests
Building a Bridge to Senior Level Competitions – A Case Study
of the UEFA U-21 Championship: Marc Schmidgall (French/
Swiss), Marcelo Orchis (Brazilian/ Italian), Tanya Ng Yuen (Canadian),
Thomas Schneiter (Swiss)
The International Positioning of an European Football League
as a TV Product: The Cases of the English Premier League,
Spanish Liga and Italian Serie A: Eden Ghebresellassie
(Eritrean/ Italian), Elaine Kosmas (Greek/ Canadian), Hichem Abdelkader
Boughrara (Algerian), Kasra Asrar Haghighi (Canadian/
Iranian), Kim Dae Up (South Korean)
Closing remarks: CIES Director, Mr Denis Oswald
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Corporations + Athletes + Federations +
NGO’s = Power in Numbers:
The Future of CSR
Ashley Ehlert (American)
Flavia Sant’anna Lopes (Brazilian)
In’utu J. Mubanga (Zambian)
Petra Skrabar (Slovenian)
Sophia Smith (British/Greek)
This research project focuses on Corporate Social Responsibility in the sporting goods industry, determining
key practices to aid not only sporting goods corporations in effective CSR strategies, but also aid federations,
athletes, and NGO’s towards powerful CSR futures through strategic partnerships. Today, sport
is more than just about a game. Sport holds a key that has the power to change and fix the problems in
society. While this power is not evenly distributed through the sport family and while not all sport family
members effectively utilize the power, each member has the ability to harness the inextricable intertwined
power between them and sport towards a better future for society. The sporting goods industry represents
one such sport family member that has the ability to use sport to benefit society in its CSR programs.
However, until sporting goods corporations implement key practices for their CSR programs, specifically,
utilizing the full power behind the sport family as a group, the true power within sport will be lost in wasted
resources, wasted time, and wasted money.
Research Hypotheses:
• If industry standards of key practices are identified for the sporting goods industry utilizing a knowledge
management system to engage in environmental CSR initiatives then the initiatives will become more powerful
• If sporting goods corporations collaborate with members of the sports family who share the same environmental
goals, then they will establish critical mass capable of producing a behavioral shift towards
protecting the environment.
Key Findings
1. Why sporting goods corporations should engage in CSR. CSR is a concept that has existed since the
Mesopotamia time when farmers were put to death if their negligence caused local citizens deaths. Cor-
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porations have historically and still today engaged in CSR for moral purposes – economic system should
further the general social welfare, and economic purposes– CSR allows for watertight brand protection
around key stakeholders. Thus, whether a sporting goods corporation engages in CSR to help the general
society or to protect its brand, as social expectations of companies responsible nature increases, as product
options increase, and as globalization allows both corporations to move to “pollution haven” countries
and media to instantaneously draw a company’s mistake to the public’s attention, sporting goods corporations
must recognize that success in the global market is dependent on an effective CSR program.
2. Sporting goods corporations are taking a proactive stance. Today, sporting goods corporations are attempting
to not only meet legal requirements but also attempting to take extra steps to actively contribute
to positive changes in their communities through programs involving the environment, human rights and
labor practices, organizational governance, fair business practices, community involvement, and consumer
issues. Most large sporting good corporations (Adidas, Puma, Nike) are exceeding and driving public,
legal, and market requirements for responsible companies, with most smaller brands, tailored brands, or
geographically limited brands (Mizuno and Shimano) not engaging global CSR programs to the extent of
the global reach of their individual products.
3. Sporting goods corporations should go green in their CSR mission. Environmentally friendly corporations
control the use of massive resources whereby changing their habits allows them to make a bigger difference
on the environment than individuals. Sporting goods corporations hold an even greater power than
general companies towards environmental CSR through the very nature of the products they sell. Sport and
the environment have a natural partnership where the health and safety of athletes and the sports community
depends on an intact environment. Sporting goods corporations need to accept their role in promoting
sports that continually place a demand on natural resources and move towards harmonization with sports
and the environment for a greener planet.
4. Sporting goods corporation’s key practices towards effective CSR. While most sporting goods corporations
utilize a variety of imperfect tools to facilitate their CSR practices, the top five sporting goods
corporations utilized for this research uncovered that most sporting goods corporations CSR practices
are unique and particular to the respective company particularly playing off the cultural views associated
with the company’s country of incorporation and primary business countries. However, five key practices
include: (a) transparency for all CSR activities; (b) open communication leading towards collective action;
(c) monitoring and evaluating CSR initiatives; (d) leveraging the brand with a laser-sharp focus weaving
the CSR mission into every dimension of the corporations; and (e) open innovation and collaboration with
the entire sport family.
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5. The sporting goods industry will benefit by consolidating their key practices into a knowledge management
system in order to share practices amongst them and thereby prevent reinventing the wheel – decreasing
costs, increasing efficiency, and ensuring the success of the corporation’s CSR initiatives.
6. Because the sporting goods industry is a member of the sports family, along with athletes and sporting
bodies, it shares a common goal to protect the environment, as recognized by the Olympic Movement’s
Agenda 21. Agenda 21 uses this common goal to bind the sports family together and shows how members
can work together to establish a critical mass capable of affecting an overall change in society’s behavior
towards the environment. While partnering to achieve environmental sustainability goals, corporations
and other stakeholders receive benefits including financial incentives, cost sharing, increased efficiency,
knowledge sharing, increased effectiveness through extended program reach, and promotion incentives.
7. Sporting goods corporations must utilize a cross collaboration model to realize the true power of sport
within their CSR programs. Sporting goods corporations should effectively collaborate with members of
the sports family and traditional sectors to implement a 360 degree activation plan which incorporate all
sectors working together to form an environmental sustainability movement. By establishing a cross-sector
model where each member shares a common goal, sport’s critical mass will be more diverse with each
member bringing a unique aspect. This diversity will create a partnership more powerful in its ability to
tackle worldwide problems such as environmental degradation.
8. Further, this cross-sector collaboration will benefit by including a facilitator role capable of instituting
a knowledge management system, capable of communicating with all parties, and that can establish
a uniform labeling system to communicate one clear message regarding the environmental progress each
member has made through its actions.
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The Art of Representing People -
The Case of Football Agents
Alireza Tahsini (Iranian)
Dai Tatai (Japanese)
Ernest Yeboah Acheapong (Ghanaian)
Samson Adamu (Nigerian)
Objectives
The project “The Art of Representing People – The Case of Football Agents” aims to draw a set of best
practices for the current football agents industry. It looks into the world of football agents by analyzing the
current situation regarding the regulations governing agents’ activities and the reality of how they actually
perform their duties and responsibilities. Ever since globalisation swept the world of football, agents have
been the centre of discussion when it comes to transfer of players. For example, managers in football clubs
accuse them of causing inflation in football because they are constantly striving to increase the wages of
players. One of the questions this paper would try to answer is that, are agents’ fulfilling their essence as
long as they keep their clients (the players) happy and every other person frowns on them?
To identify the likely best practises for football agents, the project carefully looks into the activities of other
agents worldwide. The industries chosen to achieve this objective are modelling, Hollywood, Literature, and
American sports (NBA, NHL, NFL, and MLB). We carefully looked into these industries to learn the techniques
they have used in managing their talents and possibly try to adopt the applicable ones to football.
Methods
To achieve the aim of this project, we reviewed the history of agents and the contribution they have made
to the development of football and assessed the current environment. We highlighted the major issues with
the situation of football agents in the 21th century, and then looked at the unique practises in the other industries
that are not present in football. We went further to identify certain practices that are applicable to
the optimisation of the issues we pointed out in the players’ agent industry. The last step was to implement
the best practices and give further suggestions on how they can be applied. To carry out this research, we
used the following sources to gather qualitative and quantitative data:
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• Face to face and telephone interviews with the different industries experts who were extremely helpful.
• Web surveys.
• Books and online periodic journals.
• Information on the sport magazines and online sport business articles.
Findings
One of the key findings in this project is that the regulating body of agents’ activities is actually doing a
good job but the difficulty of regulating activities of agents comes from the international scope of football.
As long as there are no common international laws and football is not exempted from the effect of globalisation,
there would never be a perfect solution to regulating football agents’ activities and agents would
always be relevant to football.
Agents sometimes face criticism because of the activities they do not perform for the agents. What many of
the critics do not consider is what might be written in the contract between the player and the agent. Agents’
standard contractual obligation towards a player is to negotiate contracts for the player in the course of
sign with a club or renewal of contracts.
Recommendation
Based on the findings and analysis, a number of recommendations have been made and few of these recommendations
include:
• Players association such as FIFPRO and relevant National Association player associations should have
a more active role in monitoring the activities of agents.
• Education of players on what to expect from agents with seminars and workshops, especially the younger
players.
• There should be an online database with vital information on agents to give players better options to shop
their agents.
• National Associations and players associations to strongly advice player to seek legal advice before signing
a contract with an agent.
• Agents should be remunerated on performance base.
• National Associations and player associations should provide a list of recommended service providers for
players seeking certain services in which his agent lack the necessary skill, such as career management.
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Conclusion
Even though, football agents are considered to be one of the most controversial figures in the sport world,
the need of a professional who can deal with the vast amount of money involved in football today is necessary.
The agent is like an actor starring in a movie that is showing in the theatre, however, the audience is not
the fan, club, or the governing body, but the player and the player alone. Therefore it is enough to give the
agent credit or say he is doing a good job if he makes sure his client is happy.
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How Clubs Can Manage The Contractual
Stability of Professional Football Players in
a Context of International Mobility
Diego F. R. Compaire (Italian)
Gerardo Planas Rodriguez Alcala (Paraguayan)
Stefan-Eric Wildemann (German)
“Contractual stability is of paramount importance in football, from the perspective of clubs, players, and
the public” FIFA Circular Letter 769.
Contemporary football is caught between two very powerful concepts: the freedom of movement of players
on the one side and contractual stability on the other. As it was shown in this research project, international
migration has been part of football from the beginning. The decisions made by the European Court
of Justice in relation to the Bosman case in 1995 entailed some large-scale changes in the transfer system
of professional footballers. In particular, players who were EU or EEA nationals could now freely move
within the European Union at the end of their contract as any transfer fees for out-of contract players were
declared illegal. Second, the ‘3+2’ rule was abandoned for EU nationals. Certainly, these legal decisions
have stimulated the freedom of movement of players. As can be observed from the profile of foreigners in
the top 5 European leagues (England, Spain, Italy, Germany and Spain), cultural, historic and structural
reasons continue to play a vital in the migration patterns of players. For example, whereas African players
still constitute a comparatively high percentage of foreign players in France, many South American players
are registered in the Italian Serie A and the Spanish Primera División. Another trend which has become
visible is the decreasing age of the first international transfer of players. To counteract this development,
FIFA has decisively restricted the transfer of minors under Article 19 of the Regulations on the Status and
Transfer of Players.
Professional footballers are rather ‘special employees’ as their value to clubs goes far beyond comparison
to that of regular workers. Naturally, clubs must finance the acquisition and maintenance of these ‘assets’
as to compete in an industry which shows a very diverging trend between big and small. It could be shown,
that the five biggest European leagues are growing a lot faster than the rest. Currently, they alone account
for 53% of the total European football market. Their growth is essentially fuelled by a combination of three
income streams (broadcasting, commercial and matchday revenues). The same polarization could also be
witnessed on individual club level where nineteen out of the top twenty most revenue producing clubs stem
from the top five leagues. For middle sized and smaller clubs, alternative financial models include the cov-
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ering of losses through donations by the owner or, ultimately, the covering of losses through transfer activity.
The latter holds particularly true for countries outside of Europe where the ‘big three’ income streams
are not that pronounced and where many talented players are trained. It is needless to say that these clubs
are keen to see their players in a stable contractual relationship.
The main findings in relation to the financial strategies of clubs are based on a quantitative research which
was conducted on European club level. According to their position in the UEFA association coefficient
ranking, three peer groups of European leagues (one group each for ranks 1-10, 11-25 and 26-53) were
created and tested on eventual differences in accordance to the answers obtained from a questionnaire sent
out to the member clubs of these leagues. The main findings were that clubs from Eastern Europe, especially
from the former Yugoslavia were particularly dependent on the income from transfer fees. The same holds
true for some South American and African clubs which were punctually tested and used for reference. At the
same time, clubs from the smallest European leagues are rather segregated in their transfer activity from
the other leagues. The general importance of transfers for professional clubs was considered to be high as
indicated by the respondent clubs. Interestingly, no significant differences between the three peer groups
could be found. Some clubs include indemnity clauses in their players’ contracts in order to protect their
contractual relationship. In this context, there was a significant difference between the three groups indicating
that clubs from the better-ranked leagues more frequently make use of such a clause. Finally, it was
found that youth development was considered to be very important for all respondent clubs generally indicating
that the aim to reinforce the first team or substitute players was the most crucial. The aim of making
a financial profit through future transfers and the identification with the local community followed second.
The international governing body FIFA attempts to provide a universal guideline on how to deal with contractual
stability and international mobility. One major challenge is the diversity of national regulations in
sports which has internationalized rapidly. As was shown in the legal reference cases, there is often a fine
line in setting the track for future decisions. Reference was made to three distinct legal problems: the player
status, unilateral option clauses for the extension of players’ contracts and the unilateral breach of contract
under Article 17 of the FIFA Regulations. The biggest problem in the definition of player status referred
to the use of contracts designated as ‘scholarship agreement’, ‘apprenticeship contract’, etc. In essence,
many clubs exposed themselves to a possible loss of the player by offering contracts which on first sight left
it unclear if the player had to be considered amateur or professional. This was supported by differences
in national legislation which either oblige clubs to use certain types of contracts or, at least, protect their
validity. This protection is not given on an international level. The position of FIFA in this respect is clear:
the remuneration is the only decisive criteria to determine player status.
The use of unilateral options was found to be problematic in the sense that it destabilizes the equal bargaining
power between the employer and the player. An analysis of the applicable reference cases revealed that
unilateral options are in general terms not recognized by FIFA and the Court of Arbitration for Sports unless
they incorporate some specific elements which work for the clear and acceptable advantage of the player.
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The unilateral breach of contract is a topic which received a lot of attention by associations, clubs, players
and, ultimately, the media. The most recent reference cases from CAS (Webster, Soto Jaramillo, Mexès and
Matuzalem) were analyzed under consideration of the particularities of each case. In the famous Webster
case, the Panel based the compensation to be paid by the player and his new club on the sum of the salary
payments of the player’s outstanding contractual period with the former club. This reasoning was later
broadened in the other cases through the inclusion of various new aspects, e.g. a transfer offer prior to the
breach (as in the Mexès case) or a buy-out clause in the player’s new contract (as in the Matuzalem case).
Another important aspect which also leads to sporting sanctions is whether the player is under the protected
period at the time of breach of contract as specified in Article17 of the FIFA RSTP. Yet the sentences
so far have still left some of the issues unclear mainly because FIFA and CAS had to discover this rather
new territory. The keyword ‘specificity of sport’ has been abundantly used to justify some of the decisions
made. It remains to be seen what further developments in the legal regulations will bring. FIFA’s attempt
to defend the actual player transfer system is certainly not easy in light of certain interferences with public
and private law.
In the meantime, clubs should attempt to defend themselves from any form of legal conflict. Following the
recommendations made in the last part of the research, they should find themselves in a safer position to
administer their players’ contracts and focus on some particularities in the current legal environment.
Some clear recommendations were made in the sense that clubs should clearly define the status of their
players. Further, the use of unilateral options should be avoided by clubs. Instead small remunerated contracts
should be offered to youth players which can consequently be readjusted based on their performance.
In regards to unilateral breach of contract, clubs should incorporate a variable indemnity clause in their
players’ contract which will automatically adjust the compensation fee in relation to some objective criteria
with respect to the performance of the player and the club. In this way the club can circumvent the mitigation
risk inherent in a fixed buy-out clause. Frequent contract renewals are another means by which the
club can assure to have its players constantly under the protected period.
This project is not aimed at restricting the movement of players in general but to protect clubs financially
when players decide to leave. Moreover, the strategy of many clubs is based on transfer activity, which actually
implies the movement of players. Most importantly, this should be regulated in a uniform manner as
not to damage certain clubs more than others. As the football industry is on its way to become increasingly
professionalized, especially at the top end, smaller clubs should also have some means by which they can
at least claim a financial compensation for their sporting losses.
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Indian League: A Suitable Product for T.V.?
Gonzalo Bossart (Chilean/ Swiss)
Manoel Medeiros Flores Junior (Brazilian)
Pedro Presa Rodrigues (Portuguese)
Taufique Ahmed (Indian)
For long, T.V. has been perceived as the means to financially leverage most businesses, especially when it
comes to an industry such as sport. Football is certainly one discipline that depends almost entirely on the
power of T.V. Through T.V., brands are known, myths are born and value is created. Without this powerful
marketing channel football’s impact in society would not be the same. Let’s take England as an example.
After a long period of decline, English football saw in T.V. money the means to save the league and its image.
These sums affected the league in every aspect and helped re-shape English society by once again putting
the country in the centre of the world, though this time in football terms. Attendances at professional
football matches have risen year-on-year and many of the Premier League games are regularly sold out.
In addition, the revamped stadia that house clubs provide a much safer and more comfortable environment
for spectators. On the pitch, the Premier League teams have proved successful in attracting big name overseas
players, a stark contrast to the late 1980s when few wanted to be involved in English football. What is
more, football’s new image appears to have been successful in attracting families back to football matches,
with the hooliganism that dogged English football in the 1970s and 1980s seemingly on the decline. These
direct and indirect effects of the commercialization of football through T.V. have been seen in every country
where league success is constant.
The United States could not be different where its leagues are known for their commercial value and international
reach. Take the NBA for instance. NBA has created icons like Michael Jordan and possesses
12 international offices. The league was one of the first to benefit from the positive marketing generated
by T.V. exposure and the monetary gains derived from it 1 . If this success was not enough, the NBA is always
searching for other markets and relies greatly on the awareness it created throughout these years of
partnership with T.V. Coincidentally enough, India is NBA’s next target. As mentioned by NBA’s director
of international development, ‘India is a significant emerging business and basketball opportunity for us’. 2
England and the USA are certainly benchmarks when it comes to running and developing leagues, however,
the advantage of both countries is the fact that the culture for the sports of their predominant leagues
1 Mullin, B., Hardy, S., Sutton, W., March 19, 2007
2 Yahoo Sports, Jun 21, 2009
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was already strong much before a professional approach. The challenge of this paper is to understand India,
a country that suffers to develop its football mainly due to the lack of this strong traditional link to the
sport and the predominance of another (cricket).
In India We Trust…
India is the 7th biggest country in the world in territory and the 2nd in population (1.2 billion people).
With an emerging economy that grew at an average rate of 7% in the decade 1997-2007 3 , the country is
seen by many as the ‘sleeping giant’ and benefits from a well-educated population that exports know-how
throughout the globe. These characteristics are well-known by the general public. What is not well spread
is India’s passion for football. Despite the clear differences between the country’s tradition in cricket and
football, little is known of India’s early successes in the “people’s game”. The impact of this success led not
only to the invitation to participate in a World Cup (1950), which was not accepted for several reasons, but
also to ups and downs of India’s football in the subsequent years. The focus of this paper is to introduce the
reader to a country that was colonized by the inventors of football but failed along the way. The reasons behind
this failure and India’s present football structure will lead to an understanding of the drastic changes
that the country must undergo in order to take football to the developmental heights of its economy. These
changes, however, will be proven to be only viable and worthwhile with the aid of T.V. and everything that
comes with it. Structural demands, tight financial and managerial control, infrastructure development and
fan management are all issues that will be dealt with, using the T.V. perspective and its role as a catalyst of
success in today’s sporting context.
Independence or Death
When dealing with structural demands, the approach will start with a thorough analysis of how India’s
league (I-League) structure is designed and which are the implications of such. A recommendation taking
into account some best practices in leagues (mainly Europeans) will follow as way to tailor an ideal football
structure for a country like India. A league that today is placed under the federation and run with an
amateur and bureaucratic approach has a limited opportunity for growth. With this idea in mind, a formula
to separate the league taking into account examples of success in leagues such as, the “Premier League”
(England) and “La Liga” (Spain), will be drawn. This new design will pave the way to the understanding
of a need to have a body in charge of controlling key issues, such as licensing criteria, independent from the
league itself. This body will be the engine of growth since it will keep track of the financial status of clubs
and all other aspects of its (and league’s) life. A model based on the French league will be proposed and the
independence of this organism will be explained in detail. Both the independence of the league and of this
new body will become the cornerstones of a new reality in India’s football. However, for a complete attempt
3 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/IN.html
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to make the I-League a solid institution with its focus in the development through T.V. investment, it will
be necessary to suggest three matters that should be urgently tackled. In India’s case these urgent matters
that will allow the league to be shaped in a T.V.-friendly manner are: competition, stadia and attendances.
Urgent Matters
Competition is a peculiarity of India and the solution to some key issues such as calendar and format will
be proposed. When it comes to stadia and attendances, the real effect and benefit of T.V. to these aspects
will be crucial for one’s understanding of the important role it play in the consolidation of a league when it
comes not only to its image but to the relationship to potential broadcasters.
Finally, two variables in this paper are unquestionable, India’s potential and the power of T.V. When properly
adding them into the football equation, the results are deemed to be substantial. The ultimate goal of
this paper is to see if T.V. is indeed a variable in today’s football scenario in India and if it is not, to devise
recommendations in order to prepare the country for the eventual outburst of T.V. investment. The foundations
are laid and work must be done so that India will awake and shake the world with its football as it
does with its economy.
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Building a Bridge to Senior Level
Competitions – A Case Study of the
UEFA U-21 Championship
Marc Schmidgall (French/ Swiss)
Marcelo Orchis (Brazilian/ Italian)
Tanya Ng Yuen (Canadian)
Thomas Schneiter (Swiss)
Sport affects the daily lives of every individual, whether it is through active participation or simply watching
sport for entertainment. It has come a long way throughout the years with structures, policies and
development procedures set in place to produce optimal performance and the highest quality of play from
athletes.
With all the advances in elite sport, the stages of development of an athlete before reaching their top national
team or making the finals of the Olympic games or the football World Cup are becoming more and
more crucial. For this reason we find it important to examine carefully the different athlete development
models and the professional direction which sport has undertaken in an attempt to clarify youth competitions
from senior level ones. But what do the terms ‘youth’, ‘junior’, and ‘senior’ stand for? Are they
clearly defined within the world of sport? Are they based on physical or psychological age? Within sport do
the three distinct categories even exist? And if so how are these competition categories and championships
organized? Throughout our paper we will address these questions and propose recommendations based on
our empirical research.
Our main proposal primarily involves the case of UEFA’s European Under-21 Championship. The specifics
of the Under-21 Championship are ideal to put under the microscope of our analysis because both the
age group of athletes who participate in this category and the competition itself are not clearly defined.
Take for example the name of the competition, UEFA’s European Under-21 Championship, why is the name
of the competition called Under-21 when players can be up to 23 years of age? Does UEFA consider this
championship to be youth or senior? There are many questions surrounding this specific tournament.
In order to have a better understanding of the perception of the current sporting scene we have divided our
paper into two sections:
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The first section paints the picture of sport in general through which various development chains for competition
are analyzed. Discussed are the various models used around the world. It also includes an overview
regarding the status of professionalism and amateurism and ends with an overview of other team sports and
their competition portfolio.
The second part of our paper reviews the specifics of UEFA’s European Under-21 Championship case. In
order to get a better understanding from our key stakeholder within the competition – participating National
Football Associations - we formatted a research study. Our methodology was encompassed through
a series of detailed questions in a questionnaire format which was initiated via telephone interview as well
as an on-site visit to the 2009 European Under-21 Championships hosted in Sweden.
Our research included understanding the structures of National Associations, such as the perception internally
of their Under-21 team as well as National Association’s perception of UEFA’s European Under-21
tournament overall. As one of the main players in football, National Associations opinions regarding this
tournament are essential because without them bringing forth highly skilled players or investing in their
football programs such a tournament would not exist. For our group this is a key topic of interest as we
have not seen much research done regarding the emphasis and value put on the perception of a National
Association.
The information gained was vital as it also lead to doing a further comparison with regards to the core
values UEFA was emitting regarding the Championship to its members. The study from the 2007 edition
of the UEFA European Championship Final Tournament in the Netherlands concluded with UEFA designing
five core values attributed to the Championship, which include: Excellence, Aspiration, Accessibility,
Entertainment and Fresh & Fun. These values are the heart of the tournament, however do the National
Associations attribute the importance of these vales to the tournament also? Are National Associations on
the same page as UEFA? If not, is UEFA effectively explaining their position about the tournament?
Our site visit to Sweden was essential as it allowed us to observe first hand how the tournament had evolved
professionally, and to further support findings from previous research and statistics. UEFA itself was of
great help in providing important and useful information regarding the competition and providing support
of this research overall.
Our aim is to be able to show how the National Associations perceive Under-21 Championship, and give
importance to this category from within. Furthermore, based on our findings from the in-depth interviews
with National Associations and through an analysis of the competition itself we would like to provide practical
recommendations regarding the age category within football as a whole. The case of UEFA’s U-21 European
Championship allows us to understand the realities of an important tournament and its stakeholder.
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From a National Association point of view understanding the development process and the difference between
youth and senior competitions is a huge task and even more so coordinating a successful program
which allows athletes to find that link in bridging and developing from a grassroots to an elite professional.
The tournament’s slogan ‘Stars of today, superstars of tomorrow’, best describes the overview of the Championship
and it’s role within the development process of athletes and national player development structures.
As mentioned by the Scottish Football Association when asked about the importance of the U21
category in the development of an athlete’s career:
“I think that most people would agree that they are not a real youth team. When players
get to the age of 20 – 21, they are adults and so therefore it does help to close that
gap U19 to the international level. I think that it’s a very important level”(Scotland). 1
We believe that the term ‘bridging’ is a key word in closing the gap and links our entire research. At every
stage a ‘bridge’ is built connecting youth to senior competition. By encompassing this term within the parameters
of our research on UEFA’s European Under-21 Championship and the age category in which it
finds itself we will be able to discuss and clarify the classification of this unique tournament in the world
of football.
1 Interview on 13th May 2009 with Billy Stark (The Scottish Football Association).
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The International Positioning of an
European Football League as a TV Product:
The Cases of the English Premier League,
Spanish Liga and Italian Serie A
Eden Ghebresellassie (Eritrean/ Italian)
Elaine Kosmas (Greek/ Canadian)
Hichem Abdelkader Boughrara (Algerian)
Kasra Asrar Haghighi (Canadian/ Iranian)
Kim Dae Up (South Korean)
The objective of this work was to find the best possible model to position a football league as a successful TV
product internationally, with focus on the Italian Seria A. the case studies involved in this project are: English
Premier League, Spanish La Liga, Italian Serie A, German Bundesliga and French Ligue 1.
As stated throughout the project, TV and football together have become a powerful driving force in these
current times. Football has always drawn the attention of many people, of different age, color, race, religion
and background. Television has been able to capitalize on those people’s passion, interest, and involvement
and eager by serving them “the product of football” the way they wanted it and how they wanted
it. So basically, football viewers are television “clients”, TV is a football “client”, since the more viewers
the more money and finally football is the viewers’ “client”.
Since the motto is: “the client is always right” and nowadays, for a football league to be successful it has
to acquire a relevant international “clientele”, an extensive research was done in order to understand the
studies done before and realize what could have been added.
The literary review was based on the “big five” European football leagues. Through the literary research
and specifically seven variables kept on surfacing. These variables are: Scheduling, Broadcast Production
(Monitoring Product Control), Government Regulations, Stadia, Leagues’ Personnel Knowledge of Selling
TV Rights, League Marketing, Game Entertainment Value. These variables are important under the
national and international aspect of a football league. If each of these variables are mastered or at least
taken in consideration very seriously by any league, the results can be of a consistent and long lasting successful
to a football league.
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To support the research qualitative research was done, through the submission of a questionnaire to different
stakeholders who are involved everyday with the nexus of football, viewers and media. These stakeholders
are the football leagues themselves, the broadcasting agencies that are usually “the middle man”
between the sport product and TV, along with some football organizations, such as UEFA. Their feedback
was very important to understand or reiterate the level of importance of the variables found in regards to
each league from their different prospective.
Then, Focus Groups were held with groups of people categorized in respect to their provenience and interest
for football. The outcome of these focus groups was a “raw” but first hand direct collection of the
opinions, ideas, suggestions, feelings and critics viewers held in regards to the top five European leagues.
It was a great way to establish if the “client” is in fact satisfied; and if it is not, how to do so.
In the written questionnaire the main variables found during the literary review were obviously mentioned
and brought to the attention of the person, but in the case of the focus groups the variables were not clearly
stated by the facilitator. It was very interesting to see how the issues or positive reasoning’s of the respondents
for watching or not watching a specific football league were supported by those same variables.
The separate analysis of each football league under the natural structure given by listing each variable set
a great platform to be able to come up with an ideal model on how to position a football league as a successful
TV product internationally.
By the current UEFA Country Ranking, the leagues’ success is listed in such order: first the EPL, second La
Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1. This gives an indication of how well these leagues are serving their
clients. However, this does not mean each league is not without its own strengths and weaknesses. There is
always room to improve and be innovative to improve a league’s strategy and hence positioning.
Although many long-term strategies have been presented before our the main focus has been on short-term
changes that do not require long-term investment strategies. The recommendations sought were elements
that could easily be implemented without committing large amounts of sums. Our findings resulted in a
number of recommendations and will be presented according to the variable they align with.
First, the scheduling of the game was considered to be the first priority, which is not hard to understand. A
league with international hopes must insure the timing of their live match in their local time zone, also has
a favorable airing in the markets they have targeted. Unfortunately airtime is limited on major channels
and there is hesitation by broadcasters to not introduce sport at times when other major viewing audiences
are targeted. Having said this, it is important of the league to be able to negotiate well with broadcasters
in the common goal of securing the best possible times to increase a league audience without isolating the
broadcasters’ other viewers.
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Second, The leagues’ personnel knowledge of selling TV rights is necessary to be able to market and sell
the audio-visual rights effectively and in line with the league’s overall strategy. An investment in human
capital is required in this area.
Third, the game entertainment value should consistently be developed to attract and hold viewer’s attention.
Within the leagues, offensive style of play and consistent flow of play are most entertaining. However,
short of telling clubs to play offensively this can be rather difficult to implement, but should be considered.
The areas with the most opportunity are the preview, post and highlight shows. Viewers like a build up to the
game, with information on other teams in the league and about the up coming game. The highlight shows
should concentrate on showing game footage as opposed to long roundtable discussions and opinions of
commentators. Based on the research viewers prefer game footage with commentary, not round tables. In
addition, international players and coaches make the league more dynamic and entertaining. The supplementary
benefit of this is the increase in viewership in the country of origin of the national players.
Fourth, broadcast production is necessary for a quality product. Although it is argued the product is football
and this is where the quality is derived from, if the signal and production are not of good quality the
perception of the league becomes lower. Similar to a product that is nicely packaged, the same holds true
for a football game on television. The league needs to make an investment here or outsource this area. It is
critical for the quality and worldwide reach. Supplementary, the emergence of new media platforms such
as Internet and mobile technology should also be leverage here.
Fifthly league marketing is essential to the proliferation of the league internationally. Here the league must
manage the media nexus and proactively supply media outlets (TV, newspaper, radio, magazine, internet,
mobile) with results, information, clips, pictures and interviews. An open communication channel is necessary
and a laid out media plan with objectives helps to implements this. Building on this, a consistent game
format should be implemented across the league to assist in branding with multiple opportunities for the
media to take pictures, have interviews and record footage. The end result here would be a consistent coverage
of the sports event that becomes recognizable to the viewer.
Sixthly, Stadia are identified. Although it would be ideal for our clubs to play at state of the art stadia, it is
an unrealistic recommendation. Instead, the focus here should be on the media. All stadia should be television
adapted with positions for many cameras, media areas and uploading facilities. As mentioned earlier,
the media play an important role in how the league is perceived internationally. Similar to a guest coming
to your home and would like to made to feel comfortable, the same rings true for media. As much care and
accommodation as possible should be given to the media, as they will be writing independent reviews of the
league and it is in the league’s interest for the media to have a good working experience.
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Lastly, government regulations are seen as a factor that affects the league’s internationalization. This has
mostly been documented in the way a league sells their TV rights. The regulations inhibit the way a league
would like to commercialize, especially within the European Union. Here a recommendation of working
with the government and showing the benefit of the general public is achieved through the league’s selling
strategies. Although it might always be the goal to make the most money, more could be achieved by being
proactive and not greedy in limiting your product to reap financial rewards. This strategy has worked in the
past; however, more and more, consumers are less willing to pay a premium unless the product is perceived
as the best. For sake of internationalizing, the more people see the league, the more they will watch it.
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