The report from the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee says big changes need to be made to the way football is run in England to address financial instability and levels of debt in the game, and to secure its future. The committee says that crucially, reform must be undertaken without impinging on English football's many strengths. The Football Association (FA) as the national governing body of English football is the most appropriate agency to take the lead in addressing the weaknesses of English football, but it needs urgent reform itself to carry out its responsibilities effectively and meet the future challenges of the game. The Committee sets out 34 conclusions and recommendations, including: imposing a rigorous and consistent formal licensing model throughout professional English football to promote sustainable forward-looking business plans; a strong fit and proper persons test consistently applied, with a presumption against selling the ground unless it is in the club's interest; amending the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 to recognise the special nature of supporters trusts and help them overcome the significant legal and bureaucratic hurdles they face when raising funding; that the FA should review expenditure at the grass roots, with a particular emphasis on coaching education. For oral and written evidence, see Vol. 2 (ISBN 9780215561053)

Football is unquestionably the world’s most popular and influential sport. There is no corner of the globe in which the game is not played or followed. More countries are affiliated to FIFA, football’s governing body, than to the United Nations. The sport has therefore become an important component of our social, cultural, political and economic life. The Routledge Handbook of Football Studies is a landmark work of reference, going further than any other book in considering the historical and contemporary significance of football around the world. Written by a team of leading sport scholars, the book covers a broad range of disciplines from history, sociology, politics and business, to philosophy, law and media studies. The central section of the book examines key themes and issues in football studies, such as the World Cup and international competition, governance and ownership, fandom and celebrity. The concluding section offers in-depth surveys of the culture and organisation of football in each of the regional confederations, from UEFA to CONCACAF. This book will be fascinating reading for any serious football fan and an essential resource for advanced students or scholars undertaking research in football or sport studies, and any practitioner or policy-maker working in football.

The study of football fandom is a fast-growing area of research in the sociology of sport. The first work of its kind, this book explores football fan activism and its impact on contemporary football culture in England, Italy and the Czech Republic. Presenting a comparative study of fan activism in national and transnational contexts, it explores the characteristics of each country’s football fan culture as well as the varying and at times volatile dynamics between fans, authorities and the mass media. Its chapters address key themes and issues including: fans’ reactions to policing and security measures in football stadiums; the socio-cultural significance of symbols and rituals for fans at football games; and fans’ critical engagement with football club ownership and management. Offering original insights into the power of fan activism to influence social change, this book has wider implications for understanding social movements in other cultural and political spheres beyond Europe. Football Fans, Activism and Social Change is fascinating reading for all students, scholars and football fans with an interest in sport studies, fan culture, politics and society.

Soccer is the world’s most valuable sport, generating bigger revenues, as well as being watched and played by more people, than any other. It is virtually impossible to understand the business of sport without understanding the football industry. This book surveys contemporary football in unparalleled breadth and depth. Presenting critical insights from world-leading football scholars and introducing football’s key organisations, leagues and emerging nations, it explores key themes from governance and law to strategy and finance, as well as cutting edge topics such as analytics, digital media and the women’s game. This is essential reading for all students, researchers and practitioners working in football, sport business, sport management or mainstream business and management.

Football is the biggest game in the world and the richest. This has contributed to the growth of legal issues and disputes in football and to an increasingly specialised legal services market in football. Since 2002, approximately half of all sports disputes before the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) have been in football. Football and the Law provided the first comprehensive review of the law relating to all aspects of football in the world, including all the main regulatory and commercial aspects of the sport. With contributions from 67 of the leading experts in the field, it is a valuable resource to lawyers and others active in the football industry, as well as a vital source of material to students, legal practitioners and others who wish to learn more about the area. The work includes reference to the key legal principles, cases and regulatory materials relevant to football. The key developments for the 2nd Edition include: - Refiguration of European football/ ESL breakaway / new international structures - Independent regulation of football - Impact of Brexit Safeguarding – child abuse in football - Growth of racism and regulatory responses - FIFA banning 'bridge loans' (relevant to third party ownership) - FIFA's new plans to regulates agents and cap fees - Emergence of salary caps in football and legal challenges to them - Various high profile Financial Fair Play cases Class action in football re head injuries - Challenges to Owners and Directors test – calls for independent regulator - New chapter covering developments in CAS cases This title is included in Bloomsbury Professional's Sports Law online service.

The commercialization of sport since the 1990s has had a number of consequences. The market forces that have defined commercialization, notably pay-per-view television, whilst initially welcomed as important new sources of revenue, have also had the unanticipated consequences of de-stabilizing many sporting competitions and institutions, undermining the financial future of clubs in their traditional role as key social and cultural institutions. This has been manifested in the paradox of chronic financial loss-making amongst professional sports’ clubs in an era of exponential revenue growth, a trend exemplified by the experience of Italy’s Series A and the English Premier League – both cases examined in detail in this book. But, at the same time, some traditional sporting organizations have sought with some success, to chart a middle way, retaining traditional sporting movement objectives whilst also embracing a form of commercialism. The Gaelic Athletic Association in Ireland, the supporter-owned FC Barcelona football club, and New Zealand rugby union, offer illustrative examples of such strategies examined in detail. This book explores the background to this clash of commercial and traditional sporting objectives, and debates the consequences for wider sports governance. This book was published as a special issue of Soccer and Society.

This book examines the deep connections between football and politics, and explains what those relationships can tell us about sport and wider society. With the game occupying a preeminent place on the world sporting stage, this book argues that the political significance of football has never been greater. The book explores the politics of football governance and the international organisations that run the game, as well as the interaction of footballing authorities with government at all levels. It shows how football clubs and supporter groups have leaned left - such as FC Sankt Pauli - or right – such as SS Lazio – and have been significant voices in secessionist debates and the promotion of religious identities and ethno-centrism, and how football has been used by fascist and communist regimes to project political ideology. The book also considers key contemporary political issues in football, such as surveillance, discrimination, and human rights. This is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in football, in the politics or sociology of sport, in international relations, government or political ideology, or in the intersection of politics and culture.