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How has the Europeanisation of football at the level of governance (due to for example the effects of the Bosman ruling and the formation of the UEFA Champions League) – influenced the identities of football fans? This paper explores how such structural Europeanisation in football is influencing identifications among fans. Based on an analysis of articulations in selected online message boards, we distil the positioning of fans towards 'Europe' in football, and the factors which shape it. We control for three main avenues of impact: the club level, the league level, and the societal context. Our inquiry is based on a set of paired comparisons of fan scenes for football clubs in four different European countries. Results show that the factor carrying the most explanatory power is the club's participation in European-level competition. Although this broadly confirms a 'contact hypothesis' – according to which the more fans are exposed to cross-border contacts, the less relevance they attribute to aspects of national belonging – significant variations of how frequent exposure to European-level competition translates into more Europeanised perceptions do exist. For European identity studies, the work corroborates that a lifeworld arena such as football can foster Europeanised identifications, albeit not in a uniform manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to compare match performance in the group and knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) for players in different playing positions. The information on physical and technical performances was collected during all UCL matches (n=125) in the 2022/23 season. Players' observations (n=1387) were classified according to their playing positions as central defender (CD; n=471), fullback (FB; n=283), central midfielder (CM; n=376), winger (WM; n=137) and forward (FW; n=104). No differences in technical performance between the group and knockout stage were found for CDs, FBs, CMs, and WMs, while only FWs achieved significantly less shots on target (Cohen's d (d=0.46), total passes (d=0.54), successful passes (d=0.49), and more duels (d=0.39) in the knockout compared to the group stage. The CDs, CMs, and WMs covered greater distance at moderate (d=0.46-0.63) and high (d=0.29-0.38) speeds in the knockout compared to the group stage, while no differences in physical performance between the group and knockout stage were found for FBs and FWs. This study demonstrated that (i) the technical performance of UCL players was in general stable irrespective of the competition stage, (ii) matches played in the knockout stage were characterized by greater match intensity compared to the matches played in the group stage of UCL for CDs, CMs, and WMs. These findings may help football coaches in the decision-making process when selecting the players for specific matches and designing training programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European soccer clubs have different ownership models, some of which are still dependent on or controlled by the public sector. The authors investigate club performance in the 2006–2018 Union of European Football Associations' Champions League seasons, using a random-effects and ordered logistic model, to identify how different ownerships are associated with performance and what other factors, such as Financial Fair Play, determine the likelihood of European soccer clubs progressing through the tournament and increasing their revenues. The private ownership structure is statistically significant and positively associated with the probability of qualifying for later rounds in the Champions League and consequently leading to increased revenues. These results, however, vary before and after Financial Fair Play was implemented. It is apparent that the objective to implement a policy designed to increase competitiveness requires a more in-depth approach than Financial Fair Play as wealthier clubs, despite their ownership model, are more likely to be more successful and widen the gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The objective of this article is to examine whether the design of a national league affects the sports performance of clubs in UEFA international competitions. Research Design & Methods: We conducted regression analyses of data on the sport performance of football clubs in UEFA competitions over five years. We analysed a total of 260 observations and explained the variability of points earned in UEFA competitions by the format and calendar of domestic league competitions. We also considered control variables, including league revenues, concentration ratios, and time. Findings: All seven estimated models demonstrated a good fit for the empirical data (adj. R2>0.80). However, we found that neither the domestic league format nor the season calendar (winter or summer) applied by the league were significant in the models. Noteworthy, revenues per club in the league were the primary explanatory factor for international sports performance, while concentration ratios had a positive but minor effect. Implications & Recommendations: The study provides football league governing bodies with insights that suggest league design should not be seen as a direct means for enhancing clubs' achievements in international competition. Moreover, it demonstrates that maximizing competition attractiveness through modifications in league design does not necessarily entail a trade-off with maximizing international performance. Contribution & Value Added: We employed league design as a specific aspect of the home country's institutional framework and contributed to the institutional-based view of international competitiveness. Our study illustrates that the institutional organization of domestic competition does not significantly impact actors' competitiveness abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article highlights the experiences of Liverpool fans who faced mistreatment, tear gas, and violence from riot police and local gangs before and after the 2022 Champions League Final in Paris. It discusses that the independent report exposes the failures in crowd management and questions the compromise of crowd safety principles, leading to extensive personal suffering and trauma; and mentions about systemic failure in crowd management, and police brutality.

European soccer clubs tend to spend beyond their revenues, causing disruptions in their finances. To minimize these disruptions, UEFA enacted the Financial Fair Play Regulations (FFP). FFP achieves its objectives through the "break-even" requirement, which prohibits clubs from spending beyond their revenues. This article argues that FFP violates Articles 101 and 102 TFEU. While there has been scholarly interest in FFP's incompatibility with competition law, the focus has been on Article 101. In addition to contributing to the scholarship on FFP's violation of Article 101, this article presents arguments on how FFP violates Article 102. This article then explores UEFA's interactions with European regulators as a backdrop for explaining why regulators have failed to address FFP's violation of Articles 101 and 102. This article concludes by arguing that a change to FFP is imminent and suggests a novel method through which UEFA can maintain FFP's objectives while complying with competition law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, conflicts between football clubs and the organizations that govern them have intensifed. Because of concerns about control over profits and players, a group of high-profile clubs threatened to break away from the Union of European Football Association's (UEFA) Champions League to form a closed European Super League, several foreign clubs and their leagues sought to play league matches in the U.S. over the objection of U.S. Soccer and the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA), and clubs in the English Premier League and Spain's La Liga refused to release their players for World Cup qualifying matches. While concerning, this tension between clubs and their governing bodies is not a new phenomenon. What potentially makes this quasirebellion different from past ones is the changing legal environment. The battle is not between good and evil or between community-minded and greedy; rather, it's a battle for control of global football. Even with sports' special status under European law, the power of sports governing bodies is not unlimited and courts have recently acknowledged that governing bodies' dual role as regulators and commercial participants in a trillion-dollar industry can make their attempts to restrict competitors suspect. If.football's governing bodies fail to take this legal reality seriously, they may be heading for a reckoning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study takes a longitudinal perspective to investigate sponsorship awareness in a multiple-year, international context pertaining to the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League, a prestigious European soccer competition for club teams with worldwide exposure. A logit model aims to predict sponsorship awareness for one of the main sponsors of the league using data pertaining to more than 25,000 consumers from five countries, over the period 2005 to 2009. The findings provide an empirical argument for building long-term relationships. Sponsorship awareness levels increase over the measurement period, and the highest increase occurs in the second year of sponsorship. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The play-offs of the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament determine the last four participants in the UEFA European Championship 2020. Sixteen teams, which have failed to obtain a slot in the qualifying group stage, will be selected and divided into four paths of four teams each based on the inaugural season 2018–19 of the UEFA Nations League. We provide a critical examination of the relevant UEFA regulation and show that its articles contradict each other and allow for an unfair formation of the play-off paths: it might happen that all conditions cannot be satisfied simultaneously and a group winner might face stronger opponents than a non-group winner from the same league despite its better performance in the UEFA Nations League. Simple and straightforward solutions for both problems are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I introduce a puzzle about moral assertion and defend a solution that centrally features the claim that the normativity of moral assertion centrally features moral understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the judgments of the German tax court Bundesfinanzhof (BFH) and finance court Finanzgericht (FG) in the cases IX R 10/18 and 5 K 2508/17 concerning interpretation of various German tax laws on the sale of tickets for the UEFA final Champions League. Topics include the treatment of the tickets under other economic goods under Section 23 of the Einkommensteuergesetz income tax law; and an analysis of the concept of the private sale transaction.

This study is the first to estimate the effects of the sending-off of a player on the full-time results in international club soccer. To this end, we analyze data of more than 2,000 recent matches in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. We find that, when home teams receive a red card, it harms their goal scoring and victory probabilities. By contrast, a red card for away teams can have a positive, negative, or neutral effect for them, depending on the timing of the player dismissal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evolution of the international transfer market continues to demonstrate the vibrancy and attractiveness of the UEFA clubs and leagues. This explains why African players are attracted to a professional career in European clubs. Based on two decades of data collection (1994–2014), this article analyses the evolution of African players' careers with the case of Ghanaian home-grown players' mobility in the international transfer market. The players' career dynamic is based on a combination of transfer values and their ages. We relied on data from transfer records, information on the football labour market and the product life cycle theory to identify African players' career dynamics. This allows us to determine the four cycles in players' careers: domestic development, international career development, maturity and the decline which corresponds to the nonlinear evolution of their transfer values. The results supported to construct the African footballers' 'Careers' Path Model Dynamics (CPMD)' of professional players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Victory is the ultimate aim in soccer and therefore when a team wins an elite European or world championship, attempts will invariably be made to emulate the winning team's style of play. In this study, we performed an in‐depth analysis of play by the Spanish soccer team during the 2012 UEFA European Championship, where it was crowned champion. Using observational methodology and T‐pattern analysis, we identified hidden patterns of play that ended in a goal for the Spanish team. A generalizability coefficient (e2) of 0.986 demonstrated that the offensive patterns detected are robust and highly generalizable. These patterns were formed by technical actions consisting of ball control and pass, with alternations between short and long passes, in the central area of the rival pitch, with use of both wings to achieve width of play and prioritization of width over depth of play. We also found patterns showing that goals and shots at goal were made on a ball delivered from the opposite direction to the shot and were not preceded by a technical action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of FinanzRundschau is the property of De Gruyter and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The Champions League finals, the most important football competition in the world, are a perfect global screen for Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), the European football government body. Through those finals, UEFA sends messages through the performance of a ritual that is increasingly complex with each year. The historic evolution of that ritual and its different elements helps to explain the configuration of a 'neo-ritual' or 'global ritual' with the goal to articulate the idea of universal citizenship among football fans. The sport has become, in a short lapse of time, a very powerful globalization agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research question: This study investigated the Twitter networks of the Champions League hashtag (#UCL) across the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final. Through an examination of network parameters and shifting structures, the analyses disclosed patterns of attention and power distributed among various sport stakeholders and fans. It advanced the inquiry of sport social media ecologies by engaging in theoretical discussions of media gatekeeping and power dynamics. Research methods: The study employed a social network analysis. A data scraping software was utilized to collect all conversations attached to #UCL during the pre-match, halftime, and post-match. Overall, the data included 19,869 posts for pre-match, 3276 posts for halftime, and 5691 for post-match. Results and findings: The #UCL network emerged with relatively low density and heterogeneous communication interest during the pre-match, and then moved towards higher density. Meanwhile, emergent game dynamics played a meaningful role in structuring the networked relationships. Large sport entities and star players, including the Champions League and Cristiano Ronaldo, had relatively stable and privileged positions in organizing the networks. Implications: The results indicated that the Twitter network structures allowed the prominence of large sport entities to be further recognized and legitimated, whereas individual citizens had constrained capacity to generate influence. This finding holds implications for sport teams and their stakeholders as it underscores the relational and dynamic nature of digital networks and the importance of strategically managing social media as a critical communication resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to compare the offensive sequences that resulted in goals in the group stage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup according to teams' status: eliminated versus qualified for the knockout phase. Successful offensive sequences performed in the group stage by eliminated (n = 39) and qualified teams (n = 83) were notated post-event using an adapted version of the Offensive Sequences Characterisation System, which includes simple and composite performance indicators. Magnitude-based inferences revealed that performances indicators Passes/Duration, Passes/Ball touches, Players/Duration and Passes/Players were key to differentiate eliminated and qualified teams. Performance profiles emerging from qualified teams suggest the ability to impose a faster game pace (of ball passing and collective involvement) is more relevant to offensive effectiveness in elite football than the mere amount of sport-specific actions performed. Although offensive sequences with more passes, ball touches and duration had a possible positive effect on reaching the knockout phase, the offensive behaviours of qualified teams highlighted the importance of 'quality possession'. Indeed, offensive sequences involving more players (teamwork) and favouring ball passing instead of individual ball retention seem to facilitate the emergence of goal-scoring events. Considering these findings, professional coaches are encouraged to design playing-form activities aiming to promote team-based offensive strategies, including task constraints to increase the game pace and the frequency of 'penetrating passes' into vital playing areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model for exploring the recall and recognition of embedded advertisements of sponsors. Design/methodology/approach: To verify the proposed conceptual model on a particular sports competition, a questionnaire related to the UEFA Champions League sponsors in the season 2016/2017 was designed. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling. Findings: The results provided support to the claim that higher involvement in a sport and higher exposure to a sponsored event lead to higher recall and recognition of embedded advertisements. Conversely, the same two factors alongside sponsor awareness do not affect the attitude towards sponsors. On the other hand, sponsor awareness and attitude towards sponsors have a direct positive role on the future purchase intention of sponsor products/services. Practical implications: The findings illustrate that to maximise the effectiveness of their embedded advertisements, sponsors should not merely concentrate on brand awareness, but should go beyond and attempt to improve the consumers' positive perception of their products and services. Moreover, by sponsoring a sport event, the sponsors can be sure that their message will be effectively transmitted to the ones who are fans of the sport and the sponsored competition. Originality/value: The present study empirically explores the factors which influence the recall and recognition of embedded advertisements and how the achieved level of sponsorship awareness impacts purchase intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European football clubs are very popular social realities in Nigeria. Their existence and activities shape social relations, process and outcomes of well-being as well as socio-economic and policy orthodoxies. Unfortunately, social trajectories of well-being, economic ramifications and policies remain poorly understood in Nigeria. What some people are aware of is the popularity of the clubs and not the intensification of associated implications and policy remits in existential environments of their social spaces. This is particularly important as the domains of European football clubs' presence in developing countries, especially Nigeria, are largely nascent and haphazard. Against this background, this article examined the phenomenon of football betting as an ancillary of European football clubs' presence among the youths in Nigeria. This article makes important contribution to understanding of ways European football identities are interlinked to the increased popularity of betting syndicates especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Research questions engaged include; what is the pattern involved in football betting among the youths? What are the factors facilitating football betting among the youths and What are the perceived developmental implications relative to well-being and social health in Nigeria? The Social Exchange theoretical tradition was adopted as theoretical framework. Data collection triangulated quantitative method (questionnaires) and qualitative methods. Relevant findings were made and valid conclusions were reached and presented in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underneath the sport aspect of football and the well-known FIFA competitions like the Football Worldcup or the UEFA Champions League, lays another aspect which we could call the « business » aspect of Football. Indeed, the football world is one of competition and rivalry as the clubs are continuously in a race to get the best players in the transfer market. In this world, most of the relationships are governed by contracts, which leads to disputes in case of disagreements. Disputes are particularly frequent between a club and a player because of contract termination linked with an injury or negative results in a medical examination. Therefore, the FIFA regulation includes several clauses to protect both parties from breach of contract. However, some still argue that FIFA's regulation benefits the players more than the clubs. To identify what would be the potential other alternatives to deal with disputes in football and understand which alternative is the best one, we will use several methods of qualitative and quantitative analysis and comparison in this paper. The results of this analysis show us that the current regulation actually protects both clubs and players equally and that keeping the regulation as it is now is the best alternative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explains possible scenarios of tax subsidy for European Football Championship to be held in Germany in 2024. Topics discussed include tax concessions as a key criterion for an international athletic competition contract to be awarded; how the tax subsidy would look like if the constitutional principles are withstood; and tax aspect of a major sporting event.

Professional football is a globalized game in which players are the most valuable assets for clubs. In this study, we explore the evolution of the football players’ transfer network among 21 European first leagues between the seasons 1996/1997 and 2015/2016. From a topological point of view, we show that this network achieved an upper limit expansion around season 2007/2008, thereafter becoming more connected and dense. Using a machine learning approach based on Self-Organizing Maps and Principal Component Analysis we confirm that European competitions, such as the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Europa League, are indeed a “money game” where the clubs with the highest transfer spending achieve better sportive performance. Some clubs’ transfer market activities also affect domestic performance. We conclude from our findings that the relationship between transfer spending and domestic or international sportive performance might lead to substantial inequality between clubs and leagues, while potentially creating a virtuous (vicious) circle in which these variables reinforce (weaken) each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to identity the technical demands of different playing positions controlling the effects of situational variables in the UEFA Champions League from a long-term perspective. Data of 18 technical performance-related match actions and events achieved by 1,990 out-field players (classified into five positional roles) in 1,000 matches played in the UEFA Champions League from season 2009/2010 to 2016/2017 were collected. Generalised mixed linear modelling was employed taking the value of each of the 18 technical performance-related variables as the dependent variable, and taking the classified 5 positions as the predictor variable. Uncertainty in the true effects of the predictors was evaluated using non-clinical magnitude-based inference. Results showed that the differences between central defenders and forwards were biggest while central defenders and full backs presented the smallest difference. The performances of midfielders in variables related to passing and organising were worse than expected and wide midfielders showed relative better performances than central midfielders in passing and organising. Meanwhile, defenders, especially central defenders, achieved good performance in variables related to passing and organising. Forwards played an important role in the aspects of goal scoring and organising, they also participated in the initial defending process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In international football (soccer), two‐legged knockout ties, with each team playing at home in one leg and the final outcome decided on aggregate, are common. Many players, managers and followers seem to believe in ‘second‐leg home advantage’, i.e. that it is beneficial to play at home on the second leg. A more complex effect than the well‐documented usual home advantage, it is more difficult to identify, and previous statistical studies have not proved conclusive about its actuality. As opposed to previous research, the paper addresses the question from a purely non‐parametric perspective, which is not based on any particular model specification which could orientate the analysis in one or the other direction. Along the way, the paper reviews the well‐known shortcomings of the Wald confidence interval for a proportion, suggests new non‐parametric confidence intervals for conditional probability functions, revisits the problems of bias and bandwidth selection when building confidence intervals in non‐parametric regression and provides a novel bootstrap‐based solution to them. Finally, the new intervals are used when analysing game outcome data for the UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) Champions and Europa Leagues from 2009–2010 to 2014–2015. A slight second‐leg home advantage is evidenced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay presents the evolution of European governance in a parallel symbiosis with football. It describes the EU, this sui generis ‘team’, giving examples, images, dates and events from the world of football. It seeks to contribute to the debate on the changing profile of EU institutions through the looking glass of football ones, as a ‘team’ in the framework of governance and international relations. In particular, it uses the specific institutional example of the Champions League as a source of analogies and regularities for the on-going European experiment. It examines how far EU and football continue to encompass the same joy of accomplishment after the dramatic change in their institutional and political rules of play in an age ruled by the relentless and insatiable pursuit of profit. The paper argues that European governance needs to redefine its integration’s priorities, restoring dedication to and passion for the European project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Facta Universitatis: Series Physical Education & Sport is the property of Facta Universitatis, Series Physical Education & Sport and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In 2013, Gibraltar was accepted as a full member of UEFA after long years of struggle. The accession period was marked by a strong Spanish veto that successfully led to the rejection of the application in 2007. This article tries to answer how Spain lost its influence on UEFA decision-making. Referring to the lobbying literature on influence mechanisms, I argue that Spain’s main strategy of withdrawal threat was not credible anymore after 2007. It was a period when La Liga was losing its competitiveness, UEFA was increasing the amount of monetary distributions to football clubs, and Spain was suffering from an economic crisis. As a result, a threat of withdrawal became less influential than Gibraltar’s repeated litigation strategy and Gibraltar became UEFA’s 54th member. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

EURO 2020 promises to be the grandest European football championship to date. 19 cities bid for the right to host matches and only 13 were selected by UEFA. The present paper undertakes a detailed analysis of the bidding dossiers, examining the strong points and the weaknesses of each bid, in an effort to determine the most important factors for selection. Following the analysis, the key criteria are determined to be the quality of the stadium, the commitment to continue investments in renovating and expanding existing facilities and the ability of the bidder to secure guarantees from local and central authorities that the interests of UEFA and its partners would be fully protected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UEFA Champions League revenues continue to grow (€1.3bn in 2016-2017), although previous studies highlight competitive imbalance within the competition, and in the leagues supplying teams. UEFA is increasing the allocation of automatic places for the top four ranked leagues for 2018-2019, and altering the financial distribution model. This paper analyses the representation, performance and revenue distribution from 2003-2004 to 2016-2017. UEFAs priorities are split, between meeting their governance responsibility to 55 member nations, and meeting the commercial expectations from clubs. The findings demonstrate the current structure significantly benefits a small proportion of clubs, with sixteen clubs receiving €5.6bn (52%) of all revenue. The market pool element of the distribution model is where the most differences lie. Discussions include the benefits and issues with the quota changes around representation, revenue and performance, with reference to UEFAs aim to offer “fair competition” and “fair distribution” in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For clubs qualifying for the UEFA Europa League, participation generates a series of tensions. UEFA has provided financial rewards for those clubs, but with qualification comes additional pressures on playing squads which are often less able to deal with the performative demands of an extra competition, as they generally possess fewer financial resources compared with teams gaining Champions League qualification. This paper evaluates these conflicting tensions. The study takes a detailed quantitative analysis of the costs and benefits for four Premier League clubs that have repeatedly participated in the Europa League over eight seasons. It demonstrates a positive financial benefit of participation, but this is only significant if the club progresses to the later competition stages and has a robust playing squad. This research fills a gap in a lack of analysis based on reliable empirical data as to the impact of participation in this competition on clubs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Physical Culture / Fizicka Kultura is the property of University of Belgrade - Faculty of Sport & Physical Education and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

UEFA was formed in Basel in June 1954, and began to take control of European football soon after its inception. It was an exceptional Pan-European organization in the context of the ongoing cold war since it almost exclusively granted memberships to football associations from Eastern Europe and the Iberian Peninsula, managing to tower above divisive ideological antagonisms. This article approaches the history of UEFA’s establishment from a global history perspective. It highlights the hitherto overlooked impact of FIFA’s dialogues with the South American football confederation and national associations on the creation of UEFA as a representative European institution. Firstly, it traces the South American demand for more influence on the governance of world football (especially within FIFA’s committees) in the inte-rwar years, a situation that created a rift between South American and European representatives in FIFA. This confrontation arguably ‘helped’ the European associations to self-integrate, leaving behind their internal differences, in order to restore the hegemony they used to exercise inside FIFA before the South American dissent. Secondly, it emphasizes the role played by the South American confederation in the reorganization of FIFA in the early 1950s. Thirdly, it briefly focuses on how the South American confederation initially served as a model for the activities of UEFA. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A compound Poisson distribution is used to study factors that motivate the fact of showing yellow and red cards in a football competition such as a national league, the FIFA World Cup or the UEFA Champions League. The resulting model is applied to the outcomes in the Spanish Football League during the season 2013{14, studying the partial and total effects on the home and away teams. It is shown that various factors, such as the victory of the guest team, goal difference in the game, total of fouls committed, attacking play of the home team, whether or not the match is a derby, round when the game is played, level of fair play, age of the referee, whether or not the referee has international experience, may in uence the number of cards. The model introduced in this paper is simple and it works well, providing a useful tool that can be applied in different sport settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to analyze the centrality levels of elite football players. Tactical positions and tactical line-ups were considered factors to be used in analyzing the variance in the prominence of players, measured by social network measures. The best 16 teams from the UEFA Champions league were analyzed during the entire competition. A total of 109 matches were analyzed for this study. Significant statistical differences between positions were found in % indegree (p = 0.001; ES = 0.268, moderate effect), % outdegree (p = 0.001; ES = 0.301, moderate effect) and % betweenness (p = 0.001; ES = 0.114, minimum effect). No statistical differences between tactical line-ups in % outdegree (p = 1.000; ES = 0.001, no effect) or % indegree (p = 1.000; ES = 0.001, no effect) were found. Central midfielders had the greatest values of centrality, thus confirming their importance in the linkage process of the team. Position had great influence on the centrality levels of players. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to analyse the general properties of the network of elite football teams that participated in UEFA Champions League 2015-2016. Analysis of variance of the general network measures between performances in competition was made. Moreover, the association between performance variables (goals, shots, and percentage of ball possession) and general network measures also was tested. The best sixteen teams that participated in UEFA Champions League 2015-2016 were analysed in a total of 109 official matches. Statistically significant differences between maximum stages in competition were found in total links (p = 0.003; ES = 0.087), network density (p = 0.003; ES = 0.088), and clustering coefficient (p = 0.007; ES = 0.078). Total links (r = 0.439; p = 0.001), network density (r = 0.433; p = 0.001) and clustering coefficient (r = 0.367; p = 0.001) had a moderate positive correlations with percentage of ball possession. This study revealed that teams that achieved the quarterfinals and finals had greater values of general network measures than the remaining teams, thus suggesting that higher values of homogeneity in network process may improve the success of the teams. Moderate correlations were found between ball possession and the general network measures suggesting that teams with more capacity to perform longer passing sequences may involve more players in a more homogeneity manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the victories achieved by national soccer teams in world championships in the under-17 and under-20 categories are repeated in the adult category. Data on the sporting lives of the soccer players who participated in international competitions in the under-17 and under 20 categories and in the national teams were gathered. The data sources were the official FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association; International Federation of Association Football) website via the internet. The findings indicate that a national team that became the champion in the under-17 category or the under-20 category did not result in the team or the players performing better in the adult soccer category. Hence, it is reasonable to conclude that the development of high-level performance in categories of young soccer players is not an indicator of high-level performance among adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is often supposed that the stakeholders of a national football league draw more satisfaction from their sport if the league is balanced, that is, if a large number of clubs have a reasonable chance of winning. This is the so-called Competitive balance hypothesis. This hypothesis can be challenged, however, in the context of international competition like the European champions league. It could be that the utility of national leagues' stakeholders would be higher if the probability of victory for their nation's club at the international level were higher. If this were the case, a league's governing body intending to maximize the quality of the national league by making use of redistributive schemes would face a trade-off between national competitive balance and international performance of the national representative club. We propose a simple microeconomic framework to model this trade-off. If a non-cooperative game exists among the national league governing bodies, whether it is a Nash or a Stackelberg one, this game would result in inefficient redistributive policies. We find 'soft' empirical evidence of such a competition among the big 5 football leagues in Europe. This result supports the idea of the creation of an international regulatory body. We derive the conditions under which the international regulatory body should ensure that the leagues' governing bodies implement redistributive schemes guaranteeing the respect of the national competitive balance. We also emphasize the risk of experiencing a drop in the quality of leagues if one of them becomes too big relatively to the others, what we call the tragedy of the wealthy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The value of sponsorship has been constantly proved not only by the large theoretical volume produced in the area but also the increasing number of companies investing in this promotional activity. 'Associations' built around the brand's image as created by the sponsored activity have been considered to be clear, certain and positive. However, there is a great lack of studies suggesting evidence that sponsorship's beneficial outcome is contributing to enhanced revenues and profitability for the companies vividly counting on its power. This lack of measureable results in terms of financial returns is attempted to be filled with the present study. The results presented here constitute an effort to provide interested parts insights into possible generation of revenue, or better indicators suggesting a relation between sponsorship awareness and profit levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poland and Ukraine jointly hosted the European Football Championship in 2012. The Polish media and government portrayed Euro 2012 as the culmination of the post-communist transformation that started in 1989, a great national celebration and proof that Poland belonged to the family of ‘modern’ nations. Drawing on ethnographic research, we look beyond the official discourse and analyse Euro 2012 ‘from below’ in our paper. We focus on analysing the different meanings attributed to Euro 2012 in Poland in the context of the dominant discourse. Referring to Stuart Hall, we distinguish and analyse three readings of Euro 2012, namely the dominant (‘celebrators’), negotiated (‘indifferentists’, ‘modernisers’) and oppositional (‘radical nationalist’, ‘rebels’) readings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of UEFA's home-grown rule occurred for the start of the 2006-2007 season with the full quota in place from the 2008-2009 season, which imposed quotas on European clubs. From 2008, clubs are required to have at least 8 players classified as home-grown in the 25-player squad, up from 4 in 2006-2007 and 6 in 2007-2008. This study examines the efficacy of this rule across the six major European leagues (England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy and Spain) in relation to playing opportunities (minutes played and appearances) between 1999 and 2015. This was also examined in relation to age. Since the home-grown rule was introduced for the six nations hosting the major leagues, the rule had different impacts by nationality. Only Germany saw significant increases in the proportion of minutes played by their players when comparing the periods before and after the home-grown rules were imposed. Holland, albeit seeing a slight decrease overall, saw significant increases for playing time for under 21s and 22- to 25-year olds. England and Italy were the two nations where statistically significant decreases in indigenous playing opportunities were recorded since the home-grown rules were introduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores the influence of match importance on player activity in professional soccer. Therefore, we used an observational approach and analyzed 1,211 matches of German Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga. The importance measurement employed is based on post season consequences of teams involved in a match. This means, if a match result could potentially influence the final rank, and this rank would lead to different consequences for a team, such as qualification for Champions League opposed to qualification for Europe League, then this match is classified as important; otherwise not. Activity was quantified by TOTAL DISTANCE COVERED, SPRINTS, FAST RUNS, DUELS, FOULS and ATTEMPTS. Running parameters were recorded using a semi-automatic optical tracking system, while technical variables were collected by professional data loggers. Based on our importance classification, low important matches occurred at the beginning of round 29. A two-way ANOVA indicates significantly increased FAST RUNS (+4%, d = 0.3), DUELS (+16%, d = 1.0) and FOULS (+36%, d = 1.2) in important matches compared to low important ones. For FAST RUNS and FOULS, this effect only exists in Bundesliga. A comparison of the two leagues show that TOTAL DISTANCE COVERED (+3%, d = 0.9), SPRINTS (+25%, d = 1.4) and FAST RUNS (+15%, d = 1.4) are higher compared to 2nd Bundesliga, whilst FOULS is less in Bundesliga (-7%, d = 0.3). No difference in player activity was found between matches at the beginning of a season (round 1–6) and at the end of a season (round 29–34). We conclude that match importance influences player activity in German professional soccer. The most reasonable explanation is a conscious or unconscious pacing strategy, motivated by preserving abilities or preventing injury. Since this tendency mainly exists in Bundesliga, this may suggest that more skilled players show a higher awareness for the need of pacing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]