‘Glocal’ processes in peripheral football countries:A figurational sociological comparison of Finland and Hungary
The aim of this article is to increase the understanding of the global and local contexts in football by finding out what social, cultural and economic dimensions seem to characterize ‘periphery’ football. This study applies figurational sociological perspective, which is applicable to the research on globalization processes and sport. The sources utilized are publications on the history and sociology of football as well as interviews with football practitioners. First, a theoretical framework of the global football figuration is advanced. Second, applying the constructed framework, the concept of periphery football country is discussed. It was found in accordance with previous research tha…
Global and local interactions in football : the changing field of professional football stadiums in Finland and Hungary in the 2000s
This article aims to increase understanding of the global-local contexts in football by exploring the changing field of professional football stadiums in Finland and Hungary in the 2000s. More specifically, the cases of two clubs, HJK (Finland) and Ferencvárosi TC (Hungary) are studied. We employ concepts of sport and globalization. The research data consist of semi-structured expert interviews with Finnish and Hungarian football practitioners, media and club documents, and data from observation. The results suggest that interactions of global and local forces are reflected in the development and operation of stadiums. On the one hand, international and national governing bodies have streng…
Finland : Civic activities, growing participation, diversification, and professionalisation
Football arrived in Finland with English seamen in the late nineteenth century. Although Finland engaged in international football as early as the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, football did not become a popular national game. The Football Association of Finland (FAF) emphasised that football should be developed according to amateur principles. Between the World Wars, football had to fight with the Finnish version of baseball (pesäpallo) for living space. Football has been a sport of the cities and urban areas and spread to the countryside slowly. Nevertheless, unlike in other sport domains with a split between non-socialist and workers’ sport movements until the 1990s, the FAF united the…
Football match attendance in Finland
Football fans prefer to see their favourite team win in close matches. Compared to other forms of entertainment, the outcome of sport game is unknown beforehand. Opera audience knows the plot in advance, but in football the winner is revealed only after 90 minutes. The scientific literature of modern sport economics demand theory implies that successful leagues must be based on relatively even competition. This degree of parity within a league is labelled as competitive balance. Sport leagues usually claim that outcome uncertainty is necessary to maintain interest among fans. In this paper, uncertainty of outcome hypothesis is tested applying football data from the highest tier in Finnish m…
The role of leadership in a national team’s success
Every elite football team wants to maximize their success. Especially in international football, smaller footballing countries need to perform well as underdogs when pursuing qualification to the group stage phase of international tournaments. With limited player options, development of leadership within the team might be one solution to achieve better results. The purpose of this study was to find out team members’ perceptions on what kind of leadership behaviours and leadership structures occur in a men’s football national team participating in the UEFA Euro 2020 and how those are connected to the team’s success. Due to the precise nature of the target sample, we applied a qualitative app…
Global and local interactions in football: Comparing the development paths of Finland and Hungary
The aim of this study is to increase understanding of football’s global and local contexts. More specifically, the development paths of Finnish and Hungarian football are explored and compared in four research articles from different perspectives within a global framework. These viewpoints, in addition to a historical-sociological overview in the article I, cover closely interrelated phenomena observable in the landscape of top-level football: the organization of elite youth football, the professionalization of players and the development of football stadiums. The main research question of the study is as follows: In what way have glocal interactions in men’s football shaped the development…
A new playing field : Changing logics in the use of spaces by Finnish sport clubs
Purpose: Using an institutionalist approach, this paper examines the changing logics in the organisational field of Finnish sport clubs. More specifically, the utilisation of physical spaces by sport clubs is investigated. Research methods: Data were collected by conducting semi-structured interviews with 26 sport clubs from the Central Finland region and by obtaining club documents. Findings: Sport club’ expectations of spaces have diversified. They have started to use a broad range of spaces by various providers, to work towards innovative solutions with stakeholders, and to rely on club-owned facilities. In the process, the prerequisites for running and using the facilities have become m…
Hungary:Filling the Gaps in the Strategic State Sector
The aim of this article is to introduce the evolution of the private sport sector in Hungary. First, taking a historical viewpoint into account, the emergence of the private sport sector will be sketched from the 1800s to date. It is reasonable to say that with some exceptional periods such as the state socialist era, the private sport sector in Hungary has always been present, but its scope and forms of function have been adapted to the current social, political, and economic environments. Second, statistical data will be presented to show the structure and volume of the private sport sector using data from 2013. Third, the ‘development path’ of sport acts, which reflects the professionali…
Serving for state and industry by doing nothing but practice and play : Football shamateurism in East Germany, Hungary and Romania
This presentation aims at discussing the opportunities and limitations of football players in East Germany, Hungary and Romania in the period between the end of World War II (1945) and the collapse of the Eastern bloc (1989). Football served as an important propaganda tool for the communist regimes in Eastern Europe. Therefore, the political elites supported football players financially with sinecures in the military, police, and in commercial and industrial companies, as well as by releasing them for training and competitions in their associated clubs. Their status as “shamateurs” granted them privileges in socialist societies over common people but also limited their possibilities to deve…
Suomalaisten ja unkarilaisten huippujalkapalloilijoiden aseman muutokset 1980-luvulta nykypäiviin
The aim of this article is to increase the understanding of the global and local contexts in football by finding out what complex and interdependent social, cultural and economic dimensions seem to shape periphery football. More specifically, the differences and similarities of Finnish and Hungarian elite youth football clubs in the 2010s are discussed. The theoretical framework is formulated within the social sciences of sport around the globalization of football. The main sources of data are interviews with football practitioners as well as popular publications on Finnish, Hungarian, and international football. The data were analysed with thematic content analysis. It was found that the co…
Sport sponsorship in Finland: the case study of FC JJK Jyväskylä
This paper seeks to analyse sport sponsorship in Finland via using the case study of Football Club JJK Jyväskylä from the Finnish Premier League. The results of a master’s thesis conducted on FC JJK fans’ sponsor awareness and sponsor orientation is presented. This research has provided implications to the management of the club, such as how to increase sponsorship efficiency, how to benefit from applying sponsorship alignment as well as relationship marketing. In order to successfully implement the study, an online survey, interviews, and participant observation was utilised. In addition, statistical data were obtained from the club. It has been concluded that JJK fans’ sponsor awareness …