Rules of the Game: Strategy in Football Industry

Being one of the most popular sport industry in the world, football attracted interest not only for being a globalized sport and its impact on national identities, but also due to generation of high revenue from matchday, broadcast and commercial sources. With this study, strategic groups among the 50 global football club brands, based on these revenue is identified and the common main strategies of the groups are analyzed. Although many research is undertaken about strategic groups in various industries, similar research in sports industry is still at infancy. The findings indicate three different strategic groups, with member clubs of each group following similar strategies. In addition, brand value forms mobility barriers among strategic groups.