A lack of 'sustainability thinking' is evident at the heart of many of the problems that football faces today; from the huge amounts of money that clubs seem compelled to spend on what are often short-term gains - and the speculation, debt and market-centred ideology that goes with it - to the not unrelated deep disenchantment experienced by many football fans for a game that they still, despite it all, remain determined to love. Sustainability here is more broadly conceptualised than focusing on environmental issues. It encompasses social and economic sustainability, albeit with a critical eye on the interdependent, often contradictory, relationship between what the United Nations regards as the three 'pillars' of sustainability (environmental, social and economic). Fittingly, this book is the result of an international collaboration between an interdisciplinary network of academics and football industry practitioners, brought together by the Centre for the Study of Football and its Communities (CSFC), based at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. The critical insights collected here focus not just on football's problems, but also how clubs, authorities, players and fans in a range of local contexts are positively tackling the challenges of surviving and thriving in the contemporary global game. This book was originally published as a special issue of Sport & Society.

The forthcoming Olympics in Rio in 2016, and the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 2014, highlight the profound importance of sport in Latin America. This book is the first to offer a broad survey of the way that sport is managed, governed and organized across the Latin American region, drawing on cutting-edge contemporary scholarship in management, policy, sociology and history. The book explores key themes in Latin American sport, including the role of public institutions; the relationship between sport policy and political regimes; the structure and significance of national governing bodies and professional leagues; the impact of sporting mega-events (including the Olympics and World Cup), and the management and governance of football, the dominant sport in the region. Including contributions from Latin American scholars and practitioners, the book draws on important Spanish and Portuguese sources that are unknown to most English-speaking researchers, and therefore provides an unprecedented and authoritative insight into sport policy and management in the region. Including cases from sport in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Peru and examples from Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador, this book is essential reading for all scholars, practitioners and policy-makers with an interest in Latin American sport, comparative sport policy, sport management, or Latin American history, culture and society.

The history of China's National Games reflects both the transformation of elite sport in China and wider Chinese society. This is the first book to describe the origins and development of the National Games through their dynamic relationship with Chinese politics, nationalism and identity in the modern era. Looking specifically at the role of the National Games in China's changing social, political and economic circumstances from 1910 to 2009, this book uncovers how the National Games reflected the shifts in state-led nationalist ideologies within three historical eras: the late Qing Dynasty and Republican China (1910-1948), the early People's Republic of China (1959-1979) and the People's Republic of China in the post-1980s (1983-2009). It also examines how the National Games were reformed to serve China's Olympic Strategy in the context of globalization and commercialization from the 1980s onwards. Full of original insights into archive material, each chapter sheds new light on the social, cultural and political significance of this sporting mega-event in the shaping of modern China. This is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the politics, history and culture of China.

Effective performance management systems are essential in any successful organisation. In both commercial sport business and not-for-profit sport organisations, the pressure to follow international best practice in performance management has grown significantly in recent years. Organisational Performance Management in Sport is the first book to show how performance management concepts, tools and principles can be applied in the modern sport environment. Linking theory and practice throughout, the book defines fundamental performance parameters impacting on sport organisations, and introduces key issues such as individual performance management through to board-level governance structures, presenting extended real-world case studies and practitioner perspectives. As such, it offers the most clear and complete outline of performance management in sport organisations available. With case studies, insight boxes and industry examples integrated throughout the text, Organisational Performance Management in Sport offers accessible and vital reading for all sport management students, researchers and professionals with an interest in this important area of sport management research and practice.

International Research in Science and Soccer II showcases the very latest research into the world's most widely played sport. With contributions from scientists, researchers and practitioners working at every level of the game, from grassroots to elite level, the book covers every key aspect of preparation and performance, including: * performance and match analysis; * training and testing; * physiotherapy and injury prevention; * biomechanics; * youth development; * women's soccer; * sport science and coaching; * sport psychology. Sports scientists, trainers, coaches, physiotherapists, medical doctors, psychologists, educational officers and professionals working in soccer will find this in-depth, comprehensive volume an essential and up-to-date resource. The chapters contained within this volume were first presented at The Fourth World Conference on Science and Soccer, held in Portland, Oregon, in June 2014 under the auspices of the World Commission of Science and Sports.

In 1990, though no one knew it then, a fearless group of players changed the sport of soccer in the United States forever. Young, bronzed, and mulleted, they were America’s finest athletes in a sport that America loved to hate. Even sportswriters rooted against them. Yet this team defied massive odds and qualified for the World Cup, making possible America’s current obsession with the world’s most popular game. In this era, a U.S. Soccer Federation head coach had a better-paying day job as a black-tie restaurant waiter. Players earned $20 a day. The crowd at home games cheered for their opponent, and the fields were even mismarked. In Latin America the U.S. team bus had a machine gun turret mounted on the back, locals would sabotage their hotel, and in the stadiums spectators would rain coins, batteries, and plastic bags of urine down on the American players. The world considered the U.S. team to be total imposters—the Milli Vanilli of soccer. Yet on the biggest stage of all, in the 1990 World Cup, this undaunted American squad and their wise coach earned the adoration of Italy’s star players and their fans in a gladiator-like match in Rome’s deafening Stadio Olimpico. From windswept soccer fields in the U.S. heartland to the CIA-infested cauldron of Central America and the Caribbean, behind the recently toppled Iron Curtain and into the great European soccer cathedrals, New Kids in the World Cup is the origin story of modern American soccer in a time when power ballads were inescapable and mainstream America was discovering hip-hop. It’s the true adventure of America’s most important soccer team, which made possible everything that’s come since—including America finally falling in love with soccer. For more information about the book visit newkidsintheworldcup.com

Since the turn of the twenty first century, there has been a trend for urban "mega events" to be awarded to cities and nations in the East and Global South. Such events have been viewed as economic stimulant as well as opportunities to promote national identity, gain greater international recognition and exercise a form of 'soft power.' However, there has also been on-going controversy about the value, impact and legacy of global mega events in these cities and nations. This book provides a critical examination of the ambition for spectacle that has emerged across the East and Global South. The chapters explore the theoretical and conceptual issues associated with mega-events and new forms of globalization, from the critical political economy of mega-events in a changing world order to the contested social and economic legacies of mega-events and the widespread opposition that increasingly accompanies these events. The book also explores questions of urban development and governance, the role of new communications technologies in global economic expansion, the high security State, and the growing global influence of international non-governmental organizations. This book offers a rich collection of original theoretical contributions and global case studies from leading international scholars from the social sciences and humanities. It offers a fresh and unique interdisciplinary perspective that synthesizes cutting edge research on mega-events and urban spectacles while simultaneously contributing to a broader understanding of the dynamics of global capitalism and international political power in the early twenty first century.

Sporting mega events are playing an increasingly important role in the governance of community regeneration and development across the globe. This book examines the ways in which sporting organisations engage with local communities through projects that target youth, health or social issues and act as key partners in governance mechanisms. Showcasing original research to suggest that sporting organisations, mega events and legacies are now operating as governing instruments in renewal programmes, it sheds new light on the role that sport plays in community regeneration and development on an international scale. Drawing on the interpretivist approach to governance which bridges theory and practice, the book considers how relationships between sporting mega events, legacies and local communities are evolving to foster trust and encourage participation. With international case studies from the UK, Brazil and South Africa, it reflects on best practice in relation to governance structure, funding mechanisms and partnerships. Sport, Community Regeneration, Governance and Development: A Comparative Global Perspective is fascinating reading for all students and scholars with an interest in governance, sport development, sport policy, sport management or the sociology of sport.

Iceland is a tiny Nordic nation with a population of just 330,000 and no professional sports leagues, and yet its soccer, basketball and handball teams have all qualified for major international tournaments in recent years. This fascinating study argues that team sport success is culturally produced and that in order to understand collective achievement we have to consider the socio-cultural context. Based on unparalleled access to key personnel, including top coaches, athletes and administrators, the book explores Icelandic cultural capital as a factor in sporting success, from traditions of workmanship, competitive play and teamwork to international labour migration and knowledge transfer. The first book to focus specifically on the socio-cultural aspects of a small nation's international sporting success, this is an original and illuminating contribution to the study of the sociology of sport. Sport in Iceland: How small nations achieve international success is fascinating reading for team sport enthusiasts, coaches, managers and organisers, as well as for any student or scholar with an interest in the sociology of sport, strategic sports development, sports policy or sports administration.

This book focuses on the advent of professional football in Liverpool and, in particular, the formation of Everton and Liverpool football clubs and their development prior to World War I. This book details the factors that led to the early dominance within Liverpool of Everton FC, and addresses the complexity of the dispute within that club leading to the later formation of Liverpool FC by expelled club members. This book also highlights, via a comparative study, the different patterns of ownership and control that emerged within the two clubs between their incorporation as limited liability companies in 1892. This book was originally published as a special issue of Soccer & Society.

The English Premier League (EPL) is one of the world's most valuable and high-profile sports leagues, with millions of fans around the globe. The 2016/17 season marked the 25th anniversary of the EPL, providing a unique opportunity to reflect on how it has contributed, both positively and negatively, to key developments in football - and in sport and culture more broadly - at local, national and global levels. Drawing on central themes in the social scientific study of sport, such as globalisation, celebrity, fandom, commercialisation, gender, sexuality and race, this book is the first to assess the historical development and current significance of the EPL. With original contributions from several of the world's leading football scholars, it provides in-depth case studies of the multifaceted role of the EPL in the contemporary world of sport, as well as offering thought-provoking predications for the future challenges that it will face. The English Premier League: A Socio-Cultural Analysis is a fascinating read for any sport studies student or scholar with a particular interest in football and the sociology of sport.

Football is the most popular sport in the world. Globalisation and commercialisation of the game, however, have created new conflicts and challenges. This book explores the role of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) within the rising significance of football in Asia, drawing on three key theoretical perspectives: globalisation, neo-institutionalism and governance, as well as comprehensive data from interviews and archive material. It explores the organisational structure of AFC, its decision-making processes, relations with other actors, and policies put forward. To understand the specificities AFC has faced in its 60-year history, the broader historical, political, economic, socio-cultural and geographic contexts of football in Asia are taken into account.

Sports surface design is crucial for the successful performance of sports skills and the reduction of injury risk. Surfaces have developed from natural materials such as turf, clay and cinder, to synthetic surfaces such as acrylic tennis courts, artificial turf for soccer and synthetic running tracks, while our understanding of natural turf has developed in terms of properties appropriate for different sports and surface sustainability. This book draws together the very latest research on biomechanical, medical and engineering approaches to the study of sports surfaces. Written by a team of leading international sport scientists, engineers and technologists, the book covers every key aspect of surface development and design, including: surface behaviour surface classification, function, construction and maintenance influence of surfaces on player performance and injury surface test methods and monitoring development of natural turf and synthetic surfaces shoe-turf interaction future developments in sports surface technology. Representing the most comprehensive and up-to-date study of sports surfaces, this book is important reading for all researchers and professionals working in sports technology, sports engineering, biomechanics or sports medicine.

The social, cultural and economic significance of sport has never been more evident than it is today. Adopting a critical management perspective, this book examines the most important themes and challenges in global sport management. From match-fixing, doping, bribery and corruption to corporate social responsibility, governance, and new media, it helps students, researchers and practitioners to understand the changing face of the global sport industry. Written by leading international sport management experts, Critical Issues in Global Sport Management includes twenty chapters and real-life case studies from around the world. It examines contemporary governance and management issues as well as the ethical challenges faced by the global sport industry, including questions of integrity and accountability in recent drug scandals that have been widely reported and debated. This book deals with such questions and many more, highlighting the fact that the global sport system is in urgent need of new and innovative solutions to these ongoing problems. Based on cutting-edge research from the US, UK, Australia, Europe and beyond, this book will add depth and currency to any course in sport management, sport business, sport development, or sport events.

* Strategic approach - from goal-setting and planning to implementation and control * Depth and breadth - substantial enough for any undergraduate or graduate course * Cutting-edge - completely new cases and examples, and new material on e-marketing and technology

Sport governance has become an increasingly widespread subject for research and teaching in sports studies. This engaging and accessible textbook examines the governance of sport organisations in a changing political, legal, financial and socio-cultural context. It explains how sport organisations are governed, explores the issues and challenges faced by those governing sport today, and looks ahead to how sport can be governed better in the future. Covering sport at all levels, from community organisations and national governing bodies to international organisations such as the IOC and FIFA, this text examines key components of governance, such as legal and regulatory frameworks, stakeholding, performance, compliance and the reform of the non-profit sector in line with corporate governance. This text is also timely given that recent corruption scandals in sport have served to highlight the central importance of good governance in sport. Its nine chapters draw upon more than thirty international case examples across a range of sports including athletics, football, gymnastics, hockey, rowing, rugby, badminton and tennis. With extensive lists of learning activities and resources, original empirical research and insights into the politics of policymaking and implementation, this textbook is essential reading for any course on sport governance, policy, management or development.

The Tour de France is one of the best-known and most challenging athletic events in the world. In the first three weeks of July every year, the pros pit their strength, wit and skill against each other over the gruelling 3,500km route. And every year, amateur riders the world over dream of tackling one of the Tour's legendary stages themselves. Ride a Stage of the Tour de France is the first book that allows non-professional cyclists to do just that. A thorough 'how to' guide, it covers forty of the Tour's classic ascents, including Mount Ventoux, Galibier and Tourmalet. Each route is described in detail by an author who has ridden them all. There's information to help you prepare, train and choose the right stage, and each route comes with a map and vital statistics like altitude, length and difficulty. From where to park to when to go, from what to wear to the characteristics of the road, Riding a Stage of the Tour de France has all you need to complete the challenge safely and successfully.

The Handbook of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games is the first authoritative and comprehensive account of the world's greatest sporting and cultural event. It tells the complete story of the 2012 Games from inception, through the successful bidding process and the planning and preparation phase, to delivery, the post-Games period and legacy. Written by a world-class team of international Olympic scholars, the book offers critical analysis of the social, cultural, political, historical, economic and sporting context of the Games. From the political, commercial and structural complexities of organising an event on such a scale, to the sporting action that holds the attention of the world, this book illuminates the key aspects of the 2012 Games, helping us to understand better the vital role that sport and culture play in contemporary global society. The book is divided into two volumes: Volume Two - Celebrating the Games, examines the period of competition and immediately afterwards, covering key topics such as: London welcomes the world - hospitality and the look of the games experiencing the games -spectators, tourists, volunteers, shoppers, viewers media and communications running the games creating Olympic celebrities protesting the games commerce, retail and consumption documenting London 2012 in films and books the legacy of the 2012 Games for London, the UK and the Olympic Movement. Richly illustrated with the personal accounts of key stakeholders, from sports administrators and politicians to athletes and spectators, and including essential data and evocative visual material, this book is essential reading for anybody with a personal or professional interest in the Olympic and Paralympic Games, global culture or the development of sport.

Cities now seek to attract major sporting events and activities to re-image themselves, and frequently invest in community sports development to fund economic growth and regeneration. Including a range of case-studies from global (the Sydney Olympics) to local (urban school sports), this book looks closely at how sport has been used in contemporary cities across the world, and evaluates policies, strategies and managment. Five key areas are examined: * sport and urban economic regeneration * sports events: bidding * planning and organization * Urban Sports tourism * Sport and urban community development * Urban politics and sports policy. Sport in the City therefore represents an essential resource for urban policy makers and the sports policy community. It will be invaluable reading for sports studies students and urban geographers.

The sports agent has become a highly significant figure in contemporary sport business. The role of the agent is essential to our understanding of labour markets and labour relations in an increasingly globalised sports industry. Drawing on extensive empirical research into football around the world, this book explains what agents do, how their role has changed, and why this is important for future sport business. Offering analysis from economic, legal, social and historical perspectives, the book explores key topics such as: the history of sports agents including the emergence of the modern agent in US sport typologies and demographic profiles of agents in football valuations and organisational analysis of leading European agents and agencies relations between agents and clubs future directions for research into sports agents. Focusing on the major European leagues, this book goes further than any other in illuminating an important but under-researched aspect of contemporary sport business. It is a valuable resource for any student, researcher or policy-maker with an interest in sport business, sport management, sport policy, the economics of sport or labour economics.

Football is the most widely played, watched and studied sport in the world. It's hard to develop a full understanding of the significance of sport in global society without understanding the significance of football. Studying Football is the first book designed specifically to guide and support the study of football on degree-level courses, across the full range of social-scientific perspectives. Written by a team of leading international football experts, and considering themes of globalization, corporatization and prejudice and discrimination throughout, it introduces key topics in football studies, including: media and celebrity identity, fandom and consumption gender violence racism corruption Every chapter includes up-to-date case study material, a 'Research in Action' section and features to aid student understanding and bring theory to life. Studying Football introduces all the key themes and facets of the social-scientific study of football, and is therefore an essential text for students on football studies courses and useful reading for any undergraduates studying the sociology of sport more generally.

This essential textbook introduces the work of sport management and sport development from the perspective of the day-to-day operational challenges faced by managers and sport development officers. It addresses the practicalities of designing and delivering sport services safely, efficiently and effectively, for profit or in non-profit contexts. The book covers core topics such as time management, project management, customer care, developing partnerships, fundraising, crisis management and research. It adopts a problem-based learning approach, with a strong, practical focus on putting theory into practice, to illustrate good practice and to help the reader develop sound operational skills, knowledge and decision-making, underpinned by the principles of safety, effectiveness and efficiency. It features a range of diverse international case studies, covering different sports and operational management challenges, including global pandemics and terrorism. Connecting theories, ideas and scientific disciplines, the book helps managers approach operations management more creatively, combining both management and development work to show areas of difference and overlap. It also introduces systems theory and the principals of marginal gains or small wins, to help managers develop working cultures which can be utilised in all areas of management, encouraging a culture of learning, reflection and ethical action. Sport Operations Management and Development is designed for both practitioners and students working in sport management, development, coaching or aspects of sport science.

Effective performance management systems are essential in any successful organisation. In both commercial sport business and not-for-profit sport organisations, the pressure to follow international best practice in performance management has grown significantly in recent years. Organisational Performance Management in Sport is the first book to show how performance management concepts, tools and principles can be applied in the modern sport environment. Linking theory and practice throughout, the book defines fundamental performance parameters impacting on sport organisations, and introduces key issues such as individual performance management through to board-level governance structures, presenting extended real-world case studies and practitioner perspectives. As such, it offers the most clear and complete outline of performance management in sport organisations available. With case studies, insight boxes and industry examples integrated throughout the text, Organisational Performance Management in Sport offers accessible and vital reading for all sport management students, researchers and professionals with an interest in this important area of sport management research and practice.

Using an interdisciplinary approach, Sport, Education and Corporatisation offers an important critique of the intersection between sport organisations, commercial agendas and educational development. It reveals a discomforting interplay between sector stakeholders that has been normalised via discourses of civic 'good', social responsibility and community welfare. The book employs stakeholder theory, corporate social responsibility ideals, and holistic constructions of space to provide a framework to understand some of the latent and explicit complexities of sport sector connectivity. Interrogating the key contexts, issues and challenges that emerge from the Sport-Education-Corporate nexus and drawing upon evidence from international, national and local sport organisations, it argues for sustained and rigorous examination of the commercialisation of educational agendas and new directions for education-based corporate social responsibility within the sport industry. This is an invaluable resource for researchers working in the areas of sport management; sport development; sociology of sport; sport policy and politics; physical education; and the wider economics, organisational politics and business ethics fields. It is also a fascinating read for students within sport business management, sports studies, sport politics and physical education programmes.

This fascinating collection of essays explores the complex economic, political, cultural and social claims over sport, from multi-disciplinary perspectives including philosophy, history, political science and management. The book seeks to uncover some of the tensions and dilemmas wrapped up within aspects of owning sport and attempts to make sense of the place, role, meaning and function of sport when set against the broad notion of ownership. It considers the relationships between individuals, organisations and institutions, and investigates the power of grassroots participants from the bottom up. In presenting contemporary analyses from many viewpoints, not simply the commercial, it asks the reader to think of sport differently. Important reading for scholars and students with an interest in sport and society, sport management, policy or development, as well as those studying political science, economics, philosophy and development studies, this is also a useful resource for practitioners, managers and those working strategically with sport.