... and governance in professional sport. Focusing on road cycling, the study explores the legitimacy of replication-based esports and how virtualization redistributes authority between federations and platform providers. Design/methodology/approach 30 semi-structured interviews were conducted...

...Hossein Abdolmaleki Purpose This study aims to examine the dual role of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in elite European football by assessing their financial relevance for clubs and their governance-related implications for fan engagement and legitimacy. It explores how NFTs operate...

...Mark Middling; Lisa Ferguson; Daniel Plumley; Rob Wilson Purpose Amid increasing focus on the governance of football clubs, this paper develops the first taxonomy of club owners, usually the dominant decision-makers, taking an impact-on-club based approach which can be significantly positive...

... diversity in sport leadership. Pamela Wicker can be contacted at: pamela.wicker@uni-bielefeld.de 28 11 2025 12 02 2026 12 02 2026 © Emerald Publishing Limited 2026 Emerald Publishing Limited Licensed re-use rights only Board Governance Organizational performance...

... fragmentation and improve board functioning. Authentic leadership Conflict Leadership Governance Trust Interpersonal behaviours The board of directors within a nonprofit sport organisation are the group of individuals situated at the apex of the organisation and expected to collaborate...

...Mark Middling; Daniel Plumley; Rob Wilson Purpose This paper aims to investigate the views of English football supporter representatives on the implicit club–supporter relationship, pertaining to a normative social contract which can be used to help improve football club governance. Design...

...Pim Verschuuren Purpose The implementation of whistleblowing policies is emblematic of the reforms undertaken by international sports organisations in the aftermath of major governance and integrity scandals. However, sport has particular organisational and cultural characteristics that reduce...

...Stephen Morrow Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the implications of power imbalance and over-emphasis on commercial logic on the structure and governance of Scottish football. Design/methodology/approach – An in-depth analysis of secondary sources is used to identify...

.... That he has since been forced to resign from the BCCI to facilitate investigation into several scams, including match-fixing and corruption, says it all. Incredibly, he is now Chairman of cricket’s governing body, the International Cricket Council. The ICC, also, almost inevitably, fails to escape...

...-mainz.de © Emerald Group Publishing Limited 2014 Organization Governance Regulation Financial doping Licencing Sport policy Sport, as often claimed by experts, is considered to be a reflection of society (Grupe, 1975). Besides, the idea of an interlinking between society and sport...

...Harald Dolles; Sten Söderman; Benoît Senaux Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse the increasing commercialisation of professional football in France, and its implications for clubs’ governance and management. Design/methodology/approach A historical analysis using a narrative...