Business Support of Football as a Compulsory Form of Social Responsibility

The research paper is devoted to the relationship of Russian football and business and a possible third force of the government, which acts on them. Large investments in football clubs has led to a marked stratification of the clubs. UEFA's response was the introduction of a financial «fair play». In general terms, this means that the club cannot spend more than it earns. Russian clubs, which are loss-making structures, decided to falsify financial reports. UEFA did not agree with this position and began to apply various sanctions. The problem which is solved in this paper through expert interviews is located in the field between two positions. In turn, case-study method will make it clear whether the government is really forcing business to support football in Russia. If so, it’s important to understand the reasons of it. This hypothesis is very important to resolve the dispute between clubs and UEFA about the financial «fair play».