The Relationship between Ownership Structure of European Football Clubs and their Financial and Sports Performance

The football industry development during the last two decades and the increase in football clubs’ income have led to the large investment attractiveness of the European football clubs’ market for foreign investors. As a result, a landscape with three major models of ownership structure was formed in European football: a stock market model, a model of private domestic investor, and a model of private foreign investor. This study examines the relationship between the ownership structure of a football club, its financial condition, and its performance in national and international tournaments. The analysis is based on the data of football clubs from the 4 major European championships (England, Italy, France and Spain) in each of the 5 seasons from 2013-2014 to 2017-2018. The total sample consists of 340 observations. Research tools used are correlation analysis and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results of the study indicate that in those leagues where clubs with stock market model are represented, these clubs are significantly superior to the rest in sports results, while in leagues where such clubs are not represented, clubs with foreign private owners show higher sports results than clubs owned by domestic investors. At the same time, clubs with private domestic owners demonstrate better financial results than clubs owned by foreign investors. The main contribution of this work to scientific literature is that it is the first comprehensive study that analyzes the relationship between financial and sports results of the club with its ownership structure in European football. In addition, the research methodology was improved by adding the achievements of clubs in European competitions (UEFA Champions League and Europa League) into consideration of sports results, as well as the criteria for the final sample formation were complicated by excluding clubs from the lower league that entered higher division according to the results of the previous season.