Member Associations Under Pressure

It is clear that the great wave of structural change in the sport of soccer has only begun in the last two decades: In Germany, soccer clubs have been able to outsource their professional teams to their own companies since 1998 (Ward & Hines, 2017) and British soccer clubs have long been owned by wealthy individuals or companies who align their ownership with business interests. The aforementioned dynamics of very unequal competition within European and international soccer clubs are well known, especially the fact that increasingly only a few soccer teams are competing for the top spots in the leagues and other clubs that only play nationally have little chance because they do not have the financial means to compete in the international transfer market. This is a real challenge for soccer clubs owned by members.