The Role of Stakeholders in Football Industry:evidence from four European clubs

Sustainability has emerged as a critical focus across industries, including professional sports, where football serves as a unique arena for integrating social, economic, and environmental objectives. This thesis examines the impact of sustainability within the football industry, emphasizing the influence of stakeholders on the sustainability strategies and reporting practices of top global football clubs. By applying stakeholder theory and conducting empirical analysis, this study highlights the dynamic interplay between stakeholder expectations and organizational behavior in driving sustainability initiatives. The first chapter establishes the theoretical foundation, exploring stakeholder theory and its application to football. Stakeholders in football (like players, fans, sponsors, governing bodies, and communities)extend beyond traditional corporate boundaries, making football clubs uniquely positioned to address global challenges. The chapter illustrates how clubs engage stakeholders to shape priorities and implement impactful initiatives. The second chapter delves into the evolution of sustainability in football, tracing its historical milestones and examining its environmental, social, and economic impacts. Key achievements, such as the UEFA’s Sustainability football strategy 2030, demonstrate the industry's progress, while challenges like balancing sustainability with competitive success persist. The regulatory landscape, including UEFA’s Financial Fair Play and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), underscores growing external pressures for accountability and transparency in sustainability practices. The empirical component of this thesis, presented in the third chapter, analyzes sustainability reports from leading football clubs. Using content analysis and established frameworks such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), this research evaluates environmental initiatives, community engagement, governance structures, and stakeholder influence. Stakeholders play a pivotal role in shaping sustainability strategies, with sponsors driving eco-friendly campaigns, fans influencing social equity programs, and regulators enforcing compliance. The study concludes by emphasizing the transformative potential of stakeholder-driven sustainability in football, recommending enhanced engagement mechanisms and transparency to position football clubs as global sustainability leaders.