Pub Date : 2023-03-31DOI: 10.1080/14660970.2023.2194518
Remco M. Beek, I. Derom
ABSTRACT What is the long-term brand impact of sponsoring a global sports competition? This study seeks to answer that question by examining the UEFA Champions League, the prestigious international professional football (soccer) competition of European clubs. The sponsorship effects on sponsorship awareness (recall and recognition), brand image, and purchase behaviour were investigated in a longitudinal study covering more than 17 years and more than 111,000 respondents in five countries. The relationship between fan involvement and significant brand effects were clarified for long-time sponsors Amstel, Heineken, and MasterCard with their competitors by distinguishing between four fan profiles. The results revealed the saturation level of sponsorship impact, the decay memory effect of past sponsorships, fan attitudes on sponsorship, and perceived commercialization of football. Future challenges on brand strategy, partnership models, and attractiveness of the UEFA Champions League are illustrative for sports marketers and sponsor managers in their sponsorship decision-makings in football and other domains.
{"title":"Sponsoring the UEFA Champions League: exploring the impact on brand equity among fan profiles","authors":"Remco M. Beek, I. Derom","doi":"10.1080/14660970.2023.2194518","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2023.2194518","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT What is the long-term brand impact of sponsoring a global sports competition? This study seeks to answer that question by examining the UEFA Champions League, the prestigious international professional football (soccer) competition of European clubs. The sponsorship effects on sponsorship awareness (recall and recognition), brand image, and purchase behaviour were investigated in a longitudinal study covering more than 17 years and more than 111,000 respondents in five countries. The relationship between fan involvement and significant brand effects were clarified for long-time sponsors Amstel, Heineken, and MasterCard with their competitors by distinguishing between four fan profiles. The results revealed the saturation level of sponsorship impact, the decay memory effect of past sponsorships, fan attitudes on sponsorship, and perceived commercialization of football. Future challenges on brand strategy, partnership models, and attractiveness of the UEFA Champions League are illustrative for sports marketers and sponsor managers in their sponsorship decision-makings in football and other domains.","PeriodicalId":47395,"journal":{"name":"Soccer & Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"76066017","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-30DOI: 10.1080/14660970.2023.2194515
A. Brand, A. Niemann, R. Weber
ABSTRACT The article explores how Austrian football fans, in a country outside the “Big-five” leagues and (semi-)peripheral to European top football, relate to the European elite competition. Our research builds on interviews with fans of Sturm Graz and Wacker Innsbruck. These clubs represent two different fan milieus at the sidelines of the Champions League: one for which European-level competition has been accessible at qualification stages, and one club with a remarkable European history, for which these competitions are currently far out of reach. Our analysis reveals that the positioning of the Austrian league detaches fans from the Champions League. The main division, however, is not along clubs, nor is there an overarching “Austrian” perspective of marginalization. Rather, we find a dividing line between those who affirmatively consider the Champions League a pipe dream and those who criticize its closed shop-structure and reject it as over-commercialized reality of “modern football”.
{"title":"Pipe dream or closed shop? Experiencing the Champions League from the sidelines","authors":"A. Brand, A. Niemann, R. Weber","doi":"10.1080/14660970.2023.2194515","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2023.2194515","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The article explores how Austrian football fans, in a country outside the “Big-five” leagues and (semi-)peripheral to European top football, relate to the European elite competition. Our research builds on interviews with fans of Sturm Graz and Wacker Innsbruck. These clubs represent two different fan milieus at the sidelines of the Champions League: one for which European-level competition has been accessible at qualification stages, and one club with a remarkable European history, for which these competitions are currently far out of reach. Our analysis reveals that the positioning of the Austrian league detaches fans from the Champions League. The main division, however, is not along clubs, nor is there an overarching “Austrian” perspective of marginalization. Rather, we find a dividing line between those who affirmatively consider the Champions League a pipe dream and those who criticize its closed shop-structure and reject it as over-commercialized reality of “modern football”.","PeriodicalId":47395,"journal":{"name":"Soccer & Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"77802149","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-28DOI: 10.1080/14660970.2023.2194512
Girish Ramchandani, D. Plumley, Sarthak Mondal, R. Millar, Robert Wilson
ABSTRACT This paper examines the competitive balance of the Champions League between 1992/93–2019/20 focusing on both the group and knockout stages. The findings show that competitive balance has declined in the Champions League over time and that the competition has begun to be dominated by a select number of clubs. This situation has also worsened in the years following the inception of UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations in 2011. From a sporting economics perspective, the received theory suggests that such a decline in competitive balance could harm the product. If competitive balance continues to decline, the Champions League may face potential future challenges from the attractiveness of the product to broadcasters and commercial partners as well as the continuing emergence of financially dominant super clubs. This could also exacerbate the threat of breakaway European super leagues that would further damage the competition through the potential loss of elite teams within it.
{"title":"‘You can look, but don’t touch’: competitive balance and dominance in the UEFA Champions League","authors":"Girish Ramchandani, D. Plumley, Sarthak Mondal, R. Millar, Robert Wilson","doi":"10.1080/14660970.2023.2194512","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2023.2194512","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper examines the competitive balance of the Champions League between 1992/93–2019/20 focusing on both the group and knockout stages. The findings show that competitive balance has declined in the Champions League over time and that the competition has begun to be dominated by a select number of clubs. This situation has also worsened in the years following the inception of UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations in 2011. From a sporting economics perspective, the received theory suggests that such a decline in competitive balance could harm the product. If competitive balance continues to decline, the Champions League may face potential future challenges from the attractiveness of the product to broadcasters and commercial partners as well as the continuing emergence of financially dominant super clubs. This could also exacerbate the threat of breakaway European super leagues that would further damage the competition through the potential loss of elite teams within it.","PeriodicalId":47395,"journal":{"name":"Soccer & Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74140163","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-28DOI: 10.1080/14660970.2023.2194511
Francisco Javier López Frías, Sergio Claudio González García, Brett A. Diaz
ABSTRACT Since the 1990s, rumours of a European Super League (ESL), comprised of the major clubs from England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, have mounted. According to these rumours, this new league would break away from the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). Many clubs would operate outside the current European federative system, abandoning their national leagues and football federations. An ESL thus conceived would present a menacing alternative to the UEFA Champions League (UCL) and, depending on the format of the ESL, national competitions such as leagues and cups. In this article, we draw on literature in the fields of philosophy and sport law to identify legal and ethical challenges that would result from creating an ESL. Our goal is not to provide exhaustive analyses of the identified challenges. Rather, we aim to examine the challenges to uncover intersections among sport law, sport ethics, and European football.
{"title":"Whose interests? Which solidarity? Challenges of developing a European Super League","authors":"Francisco Javier López Frías, Sergio Claudio González García, Brett A. Diaz","doi":"10.1080/14660970.2023.2194511","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2023.2194511","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Since the 1990s, rumours of a European Super League (ESL), comprised of the major clubs from England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, have mounted. According to these rumours, this new league would break away from the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). Many clubs would operate outside the current European federative system, abandoning their national leagues and football federations. An ESL thus conceived would present a menacing alternative to the UEFA Champions League (UCL) and, depending on the format of the ESL, national competitions such as leagues and cups. In this article, we draw on literature in the fields of philosophy and sport law to identify legal and ethical challenges that would result from creating an ESL. Our goal is not to provide exhaustive analyses of the identified challenges. Rather, we aim to examine the challenges to uncover intersections among sport law, sport ethics, and European football.","PeriodicalId":47395,"journal":{"name":"Soccer & Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"91127161","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-27DOI: 10.1080/14660970.2023.2194513
Efe Ünsal
ABSTRACT By fulfilling the gaps in the competitive balance literature in the sports industry and referring to Resource Dependence Theory, we analysed the mutually dependent relationship between UEFA and elite European football clubs, and precisely, elite clubs’ attempt to establish European Super League. Then, we examined the competitive balance within the top five European leagues and the UEFA Champions League and how unprecedented hegemony has occurred such that Juventus, Bayern Munich, PSG, Manchester City, and Barcelona won at least half of their national league titles in the last decade. Findings suggested that firstly participation rules and revenue distribution policies applied by UEFA in the Champions League may have harmed the competitive balance within national leagues. Secondly, increasing financial differences due to UEFA’s policies might also increase the power asymmetry between the top five and semi-periphery countries. Finally, we discussed what UEFA and football federations should do to eliminate these competitive disadvantages.
{"title":"How the UEFA Champions League divided Europe and harmed competitive balance within domestic leagues","authors":"Efe Ünsal","doi":"10.1080/14660970.2023.2194513","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2023.2194513","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT By fulfilling the gaps in the competitive balance literature in the sports industry and referring to Resource Dependence Theory, we analysed the mutually dependent relationship between UEFA and elite European football clubs, and precisely, elite clubs’ attempt to establish European Super League. Then, we examined the competitive balance within the top five European leagues and the UEFA Champions League and how unprecedented hegemony has occurred such that Juventus, Bayern Munich, PSG, Manchester City, and Barcelona won at least half of their national league titles in the last decade. Findings suggested that firstly participation rules and revenue distribution policies applied by UEFA in the Champions League may have harmed the competitive balance within national leagues. Secondly, increasing financial differences due to UEFA’s policies might also increase the power asymmetry between the top five and semi-periphery countries. Finally, we discussed what UEFA and football federations should do to eliminate these competitive disadvantages.","PeriodicalId":47395,"journal":{"name":"Soccer & Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72378984","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-27DOI: 10.1080/14660970.2023.2194517
Daniel Ziesche
ABSTRACT The UEFA Champions League (CL) has tremendously shaped the power alignments in Europe’s top league since its renewed invocation in 1992. Acting both as a counter-balance but also as an amplifier to the competitive imbalance imposed by the English Premier League, UEFA has sought to maintain a link to football supporters in Europe and branding and streamlining one of football’s top products at the same time. This paper embeds these parallel and often ambivalent aspirations in a framework of organisational input and output legitimacy claiming that the CL can serve as a prime example to depict UEFA’s strategy to maintaining the status quo of European football.
自1992年重新启用以来，欧洲冠军联赛(CL)极大地塑造了欧洲顶级联赛的权力格局。欧足联既是一种平衡，也是一种扩大器，加剧了英超(English Premier League)带来的竞争不平衡。它一直在寻求与欧洲球迷保持联系，同时为足球的顶级产品之一打造品牌，并进行精简。本文将这些平行且经常矛盾的愿望嵌入到组织输入和输出合法性的框架中，声称欧冠联赛可以作为描述欧足联维持欧洲足球现状的战略的主要例子。
{"title":"A product thirty years in the making: the Champions League, organisational legitimacy, and the disenfranchisement of Europe’s football supporters","authors":"Daniel Ziesche","doi":"10.1080/14660970.2023.2194517","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2023.2194517","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The UEFA Champions League (CL) has tremendously shaped the power alignments in Europe’s top league since its renewed invocation in 1992. Acting both as a counter-balance but also as an amplifier to the competitive imbalance imposed by the English Premier League, UEFA has sought to maintain a link to football supporters in Europe and branding and streamlining one of football’s top products at the same time. This paper embeds these parallel and often ambivalent aspirations in a framework of organisational input and output legitimacy claiming that the CL can serve as a prime example to depict UEFA’s strategy to maintaining the status quo of European football.","PeriodicalId":47395,"journal":{"name":"Soccer & Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84156585","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-27DOI: 10.1080/14660970.2023.2194509
M. Doidge, Yağmur Nuhrat, R. Kossakowski
ABSTRACT Whilst there is a romantic myth that the European Cup was developed for sporting reasons, power, nationalism and money were significant factors. Since the formation of the European Cup in 1955, European competitions have grown in prestige and finances. The spectre of a breakaway Super League has been used repeatedly to assert the power of elite clubs. In 1992, the result was the Champions League which established a league format providing more televised games, more money and more opportunity for larger clubs to proceed in the competition. The threat of a Super League led UEFA to redesign the format of the Champions League to privilege larger clubs. Despite this, a Super League was still announced, before facing widespread resistance. This article sets up the special issue by contextualising the current Champions League in the aftermath of the Super League.
{"title":"Introduction: ‘A spectre is haunting European football – the spectre of a European Super League’","authors":"M. Doidge, Yağmur Nuhrat, R. Kossakowski","doi":"10.1080/14660970.2023.2194509","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2023.2194509","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT Whilst there is a romantic myth that the European Cup was developed for sporting reasons, power, nationalism and money were significant factors. Since the formation of the European Cup in 1955, European competitions have grown in prestige and finances. The spectre of a breakaway Super League has been used repeatedly to assert the power of elite clubs. In 1992, the result was the Champions League which established a league format providing more televised games, more money and more opportunity for larger clubs to proceed in the competition. The threat of a Super League led UEFA to redesign the format of the Champions League to privilege larger clubs. Despite this, a Super League was still announced, before facing widespread resistance. This article sets up the special issue by contextualising the current Champions League in the aftermath of the Super League.","PeriodicalId":47395,"journal":{"name":"Soccer & Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82414115","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-27DOI: 10.1080/14660970.2023.2194516
Andrei Mihail
ABSTRACT The post-communist privatization of Romanian football clubs saw their transfer into the hands of the nouveau riches who emerged after 1989. Gradually, the public image of the local championship rapidly worsened, because of corruption scandals or match-fixing incidents in which the new owners involved it. Thus, the Champions League participation of Dinamo, Rapid, and Steaua Bucharest proved desirable for more than its economic benefits. The competition also offered football bosses an important symbolic capital, meant to highlight an improved image of “real” capitalist entrepreneurs. Accordingly, qualifying in the Champions League groups also meant the “Europeanization” of the club owners’ social status, through their association with a competition strongly appreciated in Romania, due to its perceived quality and correctness. The research behind this article is based on the analysis of the public discourses related to local club owners seeking participation in the Champions League groups during the past 30 years.
{"title":"‘Let us prepare for the Champions League!’ the symbolic Europeanization of Romania’s football bosses","authors":"Andrei Mihail","doi":"10.1080/14660970.2023.2194516","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2023.2194516","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT The post-communist privatization of Romanian football clubs saw their transfer into the hands of the nouveau riches who emerged after 1989. Gradually, the public image of the local championship rapidly worsened, because of corruption scandals or match-fixing incidents in which the new owners involved it. Thus, the Champions League participation of Dinamo, Rapid, and Steaua Bucharest proved desirable for more than its economic benefits. The competition also offered football bosses an important symbolic capital, meant to highlight an improved image of “real” capitalist entrepreneurs. Accordingly, qualifying in the Champions League groups also meant the “Europeanization” of the club owners’ social status, through their association with a competition strongly appreciated in Romania, due to its perceived quality and correctness. The research behind this article is based on the analysis of the public discourses related to local club owners seeking participation in the Champions League groups during the past 30 years.","PeriodicalId":47395,"journal":{"name":"Soccer & Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"82585446","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-24DOI: 10.1080/14660970.2023.2194510
Steven Doehler
ABSTRACT For over 30 years, the men's UEFA Champions League (UCL) has showcased Europe's most elite and wealthiest football clubs. Debates surrounding the competition’s best individual performance rarely reach a consensus. However, one common response points towards Manchester United’s Roy Keane versus Juventus in the 1999 semi-final second leg. After falling 2-0 behind within 11 minutes, Keane almost single-handedly swung the game in United's favour as the final in Barcelona loomed. This article examines Keane's performance through the lens of a sociological case-study, drawing on the circumstances of his career and the match itself. Critical attention is given to sociologist Everett Hughes’ conceptual belief of turning points, which has been innovatively applied to a single event in this paper. The author argues that, while statistics have typically driven performance analysis, only a sociological interpretation of Keane's performance provides an accurately sophisticated comprehension of, arguably, one of the UCL’s greatest individual performances.
{"title":"‘Full speed ahead Barcelona’: the social construction of Roy Keane’s 1999 semi-final performance versus Juventus","authors":"Steven Doehler","doi":"10.1080/14660970.2023.2194510","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2023.2194510","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT For over 30 years, the men's UEFA Champions League (UCL) has showcased Europe's most elite and wealthiest football clubs. Debates surrounding the competition’s best individual performance rarely reach a consensus. However, one common response points towards Manchester United’s Roy Keane versus Juventus in the 1999 semi-final second leg. After falling 2-0 behind within 11 minutes, Keane almost single-handedly swung the game in United's favour as the final in Barcelona loomed. This article examines Keane's performance through the lens of a sociological case-study, drawing on the circumstances of his career and the match itself. Critical attention is given to sociologist Everett Hughes’ conceptual belief of turning points, which has been innovatively applied to a single event in this paper. The author argues that, while statistics have typically driven performance analysis, only a sociological interpretation of Keane's performance provides an accurately sophisticated comprehension of, arguably, one of the UCL’s greatest individual performances.","PeriodicalId":47395,"journal":{"name":"Soccer & Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88091956","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-23DOI: 10.1080/14660970.2023.2194514
Maurizio Valenti, N. Scelles, Stephen Morrow
ABSTRACT In the last 15 years, an increasing number of men’s football clubs based in the men’s leagues generating the highest revenue (i.e. Big 5) have started to integrate women’s section into their structure. The emergence of these “super clubs” threatens the long-established financial and sporting inequalities found in European men’s football being replicated in the women’s game. This study examines the measures of outcome uncertainty in the UEFA Women’s Champions League (UWCL) over the 2008–2019 period and how this has been influenced by the presence of “super clubs”. The results indicate a growing trend towards domination by “super clubs”, with outcome uncertainty significantly declining for matches where “super clubs” face other clubs. As indicated in previous research, uncertainty of outcome is necessary in women’s football to maximize spectators’ interest. Therefore, the authors recommend that UEFA should take actions to ensure competitive balance in the UWCL.
{"title":"The impact of ‘super clubs’ on uncertainty of outcome in the UEFA women’s champions league","authors":"Maurizio Valenti, N. Scelles, Stephen Morrow","doi":"10.1080/14660970.2023.2194514","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2023.2194514","url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT In the last 15 years, an increasing number of men’s football clubs based in the men’s leagues generating the highest revenue (i.e. Big 5) have started to integrate women’s section into their structure. The emergence of these “super clubs” threatens the long-established financial and sporting inequalities found in European men’s football being replicated in the women’s game. This study examines the measures of outcome uncertainty in the UEFA Women’s Champions League (UWCL) over the 2008–2019 period and how this has been influenced by the presence of “super clubs”. The results indicate a growing trend towards domination by “super clubs”, with outcome uncertainty significantly declining for matches where “super clubs” face other clubs. As indicated in previous research, uncertainty of outcome is necessary in women’s football to maximize spectators’ interest. Therefore, the authors recommend that UEFA should take actions to ensure competitive balance in the UWCL.","PeriodicalId":47395,"journal":{"name":"Soccer & Society","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"84790494","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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