The Structural Characteristics of Sport Organisations: Differentiation within Elite Spanish Professional Football Clubs

Abstract

The principal task of a professional football (soccer) club is to form a competitive team that participates in official competitions and achieves the sporting successes expected by its members and fans. This fundamental task constitutes the system which, in relation with its environment, defines subsystems in order to respond efficiently to the contextual challenges faced by the organization. Among these, the processes of professionalization and commercialization have particularly affected sports organizations. The most important subsystems distinguished by a club in Spanish professional football are: sport, communication, external relations, commerce, finance, wealth management, marketing, facilities, and legal and social affairs. All these areas are related to the accomplishment of the above-mentioned main task and some of them can be associated with the organizations' structural response to the challenges of professionalization and commercialization.