In association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a

sports club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

that acts as an entity through which

association Association may refer to: *Club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal *Trade association, an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a specific industry *Voluntary associatio ...

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

s organise their sporting activities. The club can exist either as an independent unit or as part of a larger sports organization as a subsidiary of the parent club or organization. The sport of association football allows teams that partake in some sort of club activity to participate in tournaments such as leagues and other competitions. Teams must register their players as well as staff and other personnel to be eligible to represent the club in any activity as it regards to association football competitions.

Club competitions

In association football terminology, competitions are referred to as "club competitions". Supporters may also acquire membership rights within their club. Even sponsors may be accounted for as members of the club of affiliation. This is a reason as to why the sport came to be called association football. The exact requirements for club licensing are regulated by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

and implemented on a national level within each national member association. The majority of association football clubs take part in a

league system A league system is a hierarchy of sports league, leagues in a sport. They are often called pyramids, due to their tendency to split into an increasing number of regional divisions further down the system. League systems of some sort are used in ma ...

. These league systems are governed on a

continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' (album), an album by Saint Etienne * Continen ...

level by the six regional

confederations. Football clubs exist all over the world on amateur, semi-professional or professional levels of the game. They can be owned by members as well as business entities.

History

Football clubs have been in practice since the 19th century, with the existence of clubs dating back to the

1850s The 1850s (pronounced "eighteen-fifties") was a decade of the Gregorian calendar that began on January 1, 1850, and ended on December 31, 1859. It was a very turbulent decade, as wars such as the Crimean War, shifted and shook European politic ...

. During the early 1860s, there were increasing attempts in England to unify and reconcile the various football games that were played in the public schools as well in the industrial north under the Sheffield Rules. Working class, industrial cities all over the U.K. began forming their own Football Associations in the late 1800s, from the Scottish Football Association in 1873 to Lancashire FA in 1878. Teams still in existence began popping up, some with the help of the Church; for example,

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

was founded in 1874,

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

in 1877,

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

in 1874 and Everton in 1878.

Professional football clubs

Due to the scope and popularity of the sport, professional football clubs carry a significant commercial existence, with fans expecting personal service and interactivity, and external stakeholders viewing the field of professional football as a source of significant business advantages. For this reason, expensive player transfers have become an expectable part of the sport.

Awards An award, sometimes called a distinction, is given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award may be d ...

are also handed out to

managers Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administr ...

coaches Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

on a yearly basis for excellent performances. The designs, logos and names of professional football clubs are often licensed trademarks. The difference between a

and a (professional) football club is incorporation. A football club is an entity which is formed and governed by a committee and has members which may consist of supporters in addition to players. A consequence of the

rules and regulations for association football clubs is that players are not allowed to be

owned Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as ''title'', which may be separated and held by diffe ...

by any legal entity other than the clubs themselves. This means that the involvement of external investors in the acquirement of players to the club must only involve the eventual transfer of the rights to the contract of the player in question, and not the contract itself.

Economics

There are several professional football clubs that are publicly traded. Normally, football clubs are not run with the intent of

profit maximization In economics, profit maximization is the short run or long run process by which a firm may determine the price, input and output levels that will lead to the highest possible total profit (or just profit in short). In neoclassical economics, ...

, as its sports outcomes are considered more important than its financial outcomes by its ownership. In addition, financial regulations as, for example, UEFA Financial Fair Play may also limit what a club is and is not allowed to do with their spending and capital holdings. The

capital structure In corporate finance, capital structure refers to the mix of various forms of external funds, known as capital, used to finance a business. It consists of shareholders' equity, debt (borrowed funds), and preferred stock, and is detailed in the ...

of a football club most closely resembles that of a

nonprofit corporation A nonprofit corporation is any legal entity which has been incorporated under the law of its jurisdiction for purposes other than making profits for its owners or shareholders. Depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, a nonprofit corporation ma ...

, although it may still be profitable per se to its investors. A practical example is the fact that clubs may deliberately price matchday tickets below

market value Market value or OMV (open market valuation) is the price at which an asset would trade in a competitive auction setting. Market value is often used interchangeably with ''open market value'', ''fair value'' or '' fair market value'', although t ...

, instead favouring a higher stadium attendance or membership priority access over total matchday revenues. Another notable example is the prevalence of

community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

initiatives by professional football clubs. The English

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

is wholly owned by its 20 participating member clubs.

Markets

Professional football clubs also act as market entities offering a highly sought after product to an entertainment sector audience. It therefor acts as a market intermediator between its product (the football players) and its market (the supporters). In doing so, it fills a presence within a certain geographic area where football is a natural part of the culture. Football clubs may also expand their area of reach further from the local region of origin to whom they belong.

Youth systems

Many association football clubs will have either one or more

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

s connected to the organization, either as part of the club, or as an affiliate to the club. The more prestigious football clubs often have a combination of their own youth academies, as well as external sources of talent (pools) through affiliated clubs as well as the arrangement of youth tournaments.

Stadiums

An association football club normally has a designated stadium as their home ground, where the club plays its home games, which normally make up about half of fixtures for a given season. The home ground can either be owned by the club itself or by some other entity such as a business, city or district. Clubs often are the sole

event organiser Event management is the application of project management to the creation and development of small and/or large-scale personal or corporate events such as festivals, conferences, ceremonies, weddings, formal parties, concerts, or conventions. ...

s of their home games. Stadium

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

are sometimes procured by sponsors to generate additional sources of revenue for the football club. Normally this requires the club (or its owners) to have sole ownership of the stadium of which naming rights are sold.

Administrative infrastructure

An association football club exists as a business entity. The club signs commercial contract with players as well as non-playing personnel. As any business entity it has its own secretary or secretarial department as well as financial, legal, accounting and other departments. The club also often has a department or someone who popularizes it or interacts with public on behalf of the club (public affair). The club may also contain own agronomist or whole agricultural department. An association football club often times provides some medical support in forms of first or urgent medical aid and physical rehabilitation or recovery plans for its players.

References

External links

FIFA Club Licensing