Theses on Football Management and Strategy
Peter Hamra and Lucas Halef (2024)
Abstract: This thesis explores the influence of LaLiga, a renowned football league operating as a meta-organization, on the operational priorities of its member clubs. More specifically, it examines the impact on performance measurement systems and outlines the challenges and tensions arising from the complex meta-organizational structure. Data was collected through extensive interviews with executives and managers from both LaLiga and its Primera División clubs and was subsequently coded and analysed.
The research shows that LaLiga shifts how its member clubs prioritize and balance performance measures, guided by the dual institutional logics prevalent in football organizations. While LaLiga successfully redirects its members’ institutional logics, it also encounters inherent challenges due to the complex nature of such organizations. These challenges include managing heterogeneity among members, which LaLiga strives to minimize, and dealing with issues that arise from these efforts. The thesis also examines the difficulties of aligning the individual objectives of the clubs with the collective objective of LaLiga.
Tova Isberg and Jessica Kollberg (2023)
Abstract: This thesis examines the relationship between accounting practices and the coexistence of multiple institutional logics in a Swedish elite women’s football team. While previous studies have investigated the link between accounting and sports, the perspective of a women’s sports organization remains largely unexplored.
To address this gap, the study draws on the concept of passionate interest, together with prior research on institutional logics in sports organizations, to show how accounting practices are shaped by these logics. The study builds on the idea of dominant sports and business logics in professional sports organizations and shows that, due to limited financial incentives to invest in sporting success in women’s football, the two logics are in constant competition, with the business logic taking priority.
The findings suggest that (i) passionate interest among stakeholders is a key factor in reinforcing the sports logic and (ii) there is a clear lack of passionate interest in the women’s team in the case organization, which weakens the sports logic. Instead, a sports-for-all logic, emphasizing democracy and public welfare, appears to shape the accounting practices of the women’s team.
Sadia Abdi and Lennart Asensio Nitz (2022)
Abstract: This qualitative study investigates how managers in a Swedish elite football club handle and make sense of multiple institutional logics, drawing on theories of institutional logics and framing. A single-case study was conducted in which 12 individuals in various roles participated in in-depth interviews.
The findings show three main institutional logics: sports, business, and identity. Their coexistence leads to different tactics for managing this plurality, including frame blending, frame shifting, frame compartmentalization, and frame denial. The study shows that these tactics vary depending on the individual and context and are influenced by identity work and emotions. The findings also suggest that tactics can be applied dynamically.
This thesis helps practitioners identify which frame tactics to use when dealing with multiple institutional logics, regardless of industry or sector.
Dennis Fageräng and Felix Tuomainen (2022)
Abstract: This qualitative single-case study examines how the board of AIK operates at an organizational level to develop the club’s goals, vision, and strategy. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with key personnel involved in long-term strategic development.
Using stakeholder theory, agency theory, and institutional logics, the study analyses the empirical data. The findings show that understanding the stakeholder landscape and valuing each stakeholder appropriately is key. The Swedish association culture forms the basis of AIK’s identity and promotes cooperation within the club.
A well-developed goal and vision program with clearly defined long-term objectives facilitates compromises between institutional logics. The goal and vision document also plays an important role in communicating these goals and the club’s culture to stakeholders, members, and supporters.
How to manage tensions between institutional logics (BSc)
Agnes Persson and Sarah Berglind (2022)
Abstract: Managing a football club is complex, as clubs must balance the interests of multiple stakeholders. Sporting success and financial performance are particularly important, but decisions often require trade-offs between these objectives.
This study investigates how management in top Swedish football clubs approaches this trade-off in both long-term and short-term contexts. The research is based on qualitative semi-structured interviews with management from three clubs in Allsvenskan.
The findings show that clubs primarily use a decoupling strategy in general and a compromising strategy in day-to-day situations. Prioritization between sport and business varies depending on context. Clubs with weaker financial positions are more often forced to prioritize financial interests, while financially stronger clubs have greater flexibility.
Management control in a hybrid setting – a case study of a Swedish football club (MSc)
Hamza Ali (2021)
Abstract: Research on sports associations from an accounting perspective remains limited. This thesis examines how management control systems are designed in sports organizations during challenging periods.
A case study of a Swedish professional football association, XXX FC, identifies two main logics: sports and business. Using the object-of-control framework, the study analyses how these logics interact.
The findings show that the organization is hybrid, where business and sports logics coexist without direct conflict. A strong organizational culture and emotional attachment among employees, combined with a lack of formal guidelines, lead to a greater focus on sports logic. As a result, the organization becomes dependent on sporting success and player transfers for survival.
Louise Hiort af Ornäs and Petter Aasa (2020)
Abstract: This study examines how an elite football club manages environmental uncertainty and stakeholder dependencies. Using a qualitative single-case study, it explores how sports organizations balance cultural and commercial demands while responding to members, supporters, and corporate partners.
The study contributes to research on corporate governance by applying resource dependency theory, stakeholder theory, and strategic alliances. The findings show that strong member influence increases uncertainty and leads to turnover in leadership positions. This instability encourages short-term decision-making at the expense of long-term strategy and sustainability.
Oliver Lindqvist Parbratt and Marcus Wernersson (2019)
Abstract: This thesis explores how different “thought worlds” within a Swedish elite football club influence how a performance measurement system (PMS) affects organizational routines.
The study finds that thought worlds differ between business and sports functions and that the introduction of a PMS can create uncertainty. The system is more positively received when it aligns with existing sensemaking processes.
Olle Göransson and Carl Hedström (2019)
Abstract: This study examines the role of the finance function in Swedish football and ice hockey clubs. The findings show that the role varies across clubs and is shaped by external uncertainty, industry culture, and internal organizational structure.
These factors influence expectations and shape how finance functions operate. The study also extends existing frameworks to better analyse roles in complex organizations.
Falk Wahlström and Marcus Åvall (2019)
Abstract: This study explores how management accounting contributes to the transformation of modern football clubs. Based on a qualitative case study, it finds that business logic increasingly dominates sports logic.
Tensions are managed through long-term strategy, and accounting practices are used to support stability and reduce short-term focus on sporting performance.
Rikard Edvardsson and Michael Kestad (2017)
Abstract: This study examines how management control systems develop as sports organizations transition from amateur to professional status.
The findings show that soft controls, such as culture and values, remain dominant despite increased professionalization. The study also shows that strong institutional actors can challenge norms, while the absence of such actors leads to conformity.