Article RETRACTED due to malpractice Effect of financing, fan stadium attendance, governance, and human capital on the performance of soccer clubs
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v66.112223Keywords:
Effect, fan attendance, financing, governance, human capital, soccer club performanceAbstract
Introduction: Soccer is one of the most globally recognized and profitable industries in the entertainment sector.
Objective: This study examined the financing, fan stadium attendance, governance, and human capital of Ethiopian Premier League soccer clubs.
Methodology: A correlational study was conducted involving 390 players, of whom 312 (80%) were selected through simple random sampling. Nineteen 7-point Likert scale questionnaires collected reliable and valid data from the players. A return rate of 99.1% was analyzed using percentages, means, standard deviations, correlation, and multiple linear regression with 95% confidence.
Results: The findings revealed the following means and standard deviations: fan stadium attendance (M=3.61, SD=.408); financing (M=3.92, SD=.539); governance (M=4.07, SD=.406); and human capital (M=3.6, SD=.828). Additionally, there was a positive correlation between fan stadium attendance (r(307) = .149, p < .005) and performance of football clubs; financing (r(307) = .663, p < .001) and performance of football clubs; governance (r(307) = -.300, p < .001) and performance of soccer clubs; and human capital (r(307) = .167, p < .005) and performance of soccer clubs. Collectively, these factors account for 51.9% of the predicted performance of soccer clubs, while the remaining 48.1% of the variance in soccer club performance can be attributed to other factors not included in the analysis.
Conclusions: Effective financial management and governance are critical to the success of Ethiopian Premier League soccer clubs, while factors such as infrastructure, political stability, and technological advancements warrant further exploration.
References
Alaminos, D., Esteban, I., & Fernández-Gámez, M. A. (2020). Financial Performance Analysis in Europe-an Football Clubs. Entropy, 22(9), 1056. https://doi.org/10.3390/e22091056
Buser, M., & Nagel, S. (2023). The role of team structures in social integration in swiss football clubs: a multilevel analysis. European Journal for Sport and Society, 20(3), 201–220. https://doi.org/10.1080/16138171.2022.2133411
Caselli, M., Falco, P., & Mattera, G. (2023). When the Stadium Goes Silent: How Crowds Affect the Per-formance of Discriminated Groups. Journal of Labor Economics, 41(2), 431–451. https://doi.org/10.1086/719967
Cross, J., & Uhrig, R. (2023). Do Fans Impact Sports Outcomes? A COVID-19 Natural Experi-ment. Journal of Sports Economics, 24(1), 3–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/15270025221100204
Dellagrana, R. A., Nunes, R. F. H., & Silva, R. L. P. (2023). The Importance of Crowd Support and Team Quality to Home Advantage in Brazilian Soccer League First Division. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 130(3), 1255–1268. https://doi.org/10.1177/00315125231169876
Dimitropoulos, P. E., & Koumanakos, E. (2015). Intellectual capital and profitability in European foot-ball clubs. International Journal of Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation, 11(2), 202. https://doi.org/10.1504/ijaape.2015.068862
Evans, A. B., Barker-Ruchti, N., Blackwell, J., Clay, G., Dowling, F., Frydendal, S., Gliemann Hybholt, M., Hausken-Sutter, S. E., Lenneis, V., Malcolm, D., Phoenix, C., Smith, B., Svendler Nielsen, C., Wilcock, L., Williams, O., & Winther, H. (2021). Qualitative research in sports studies: challenges, possibili-ties and the current state of play. European Journal for Sport and Society, 18(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/16138171.2021.1899969
Ferraresi, M., & G. (2023). Team performance and the perception of being observed: Experimental evi-dence from top-level professional football. German Economic Review, 24(1), 1–31. https://doi.org/10.1515/ger-2021-0104
Ferraresi, M., & Gucciardi, G. (2020). Team performance and audience: experimental evidence from the football sector. In Società italiana di economiapubblica.
Freeman, R. E., & Phillips, R. A. (2002). Stakeholder theory: A libertarian defense. Business Ethics Quar-terly, 12(3), 331–349.
Galariotis, E., Germain, C., & C. (2018). A combined methodology for the concurrent evaluation of the business, financial and sports performance of football clubs: the case of France. Annals of Opera-tions Research, 266(1-2), 589–612. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-017-2631-z
Gallucci, C., & R. (2024). Governance, management, sustainability, and performance in the football in-dustry: A bibliometric analysis. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT STUDIES, 1, 101–129. https://doi.org/10.3280/cgrds1-2024oa16958
Gerrard, B., & Lockett, A. (2018). Team-specific Human Capital and Performance. British Journal of Management, 29(1), 10–25. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12173
Getnet, D., Melkamu, Z., & Mengistu, S. (2024). Why do fans attend football games? Motivational factors in the ethiopian Premier League. Retos, 60(60), 83–89. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v60.107642
Getnet, D., Melkamu, Z., & Mengistu, S. (2025). Determinant variables that predict the performance of professional soccer clubs in Ethiopian Primer League. Retos, 65, 545–558. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v65.110434
Getnet, D., Melkamu, Z., & Mengistu, S. (2025). Exploring the dynamics of financing, fan influence, and leadership and governance in soccer club performance. Retos, 63(63), 610–621. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v63.109621
Getnet, D., Melkamu, Z., & Mengistu, S. (2025). Modern soccer industry management and current chal-lenges: systematic literature review. Retos, 64, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v64.109631
Getnet, D., Melkamu, Z., & Mengistu, S. (2025). Success Factors in Ethiopian Premier League Soccer Clubs in 2023/24. Indonesian Journal of Sport Management, 5(1).
Getnet, D., Melkamu, Z., & Mengistu, S. (2025). Financial performance, fan welfare maximization, lead-ership and governance on sporting success [Dissertation]. np Hawassa University.
Hundito, B., & N. V. (2018). The Relationship between Sport Organizational Management Practices and Coaching Leadership Style of Primer League Football Clubs in Ethiopian. International Journal of Management and Sustainability, 7(1), 25–31. https://doi.org/10.18488/journal.11.2017.71.25.31
Iconomescu, T. M., Mindrescu, V., & D. (2017). Importance of human resources in sports clubs and in sports performance management. Gymnasium, 15(2).
Lepschy, H., Wäsche, H., & Woll, A. (2018). How to be Successful in Football: A Systematic Review. The Open Sports Sciences Journal, 11(1), 3–23. https://doi.org/10.2174/1875399x01811010003
Malagila, J. K., Zalata, A. M., Ntim, C. G., & A. A. (2021). Corporate governance and performance in sports organisations: The case of UK premier leagues. International Journal of Finance & Econom-ics, 26(2), 2517–2537. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.1918
Marino, D. (2014). Governance and Sporting Success of Top 20 Football Clubs After Economic Cri-sis. Optimal Strategies in Sports Economics and Management, 2, 87–95. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-13205-6_5
Marotz, D. P., Marquezan, L. H. F., & Diehl, C. A. (2020). Clubes de futebol: relações entre investimento, desempenho e adesão ao PROFUT. Revista Contemporânea De Contabilidade, 17(43), 3–18. https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8069.2020v17n43p3
Martins, H. S. R., Duarte, A. R., Barbosa, J. J., & Souza, G. L. (2023). Home team’s advantage reduced with-out crowd support after the COVID-19 outbreak. Soccer & Society, 24(5), 636–653. https://doi.org/10.1080/14660970.2022.2088526
Meckling, W. H., & Jensen, M. C. (1976). Theory of the Firm. Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure. 3, 305–360.
Morse, J. (2020). The Changing Face of Qualitative Inquiry. International Journal of Qualitative Meth-ods, 19, 1609406920909938. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406920909938
Nazi, R., & N. (2018). Governança e Futebol: Um EstudoemClubes de Caxias do Sul (Governance and Soccer: A Study in Clubs From Caxias Do Sul). Podium Sport, Leisure and Tourism Review, 7(2), 240–259.
Nowland, J., & Sankara, J. (2024). New players? New managers? New stadiums? Which investments drive football club performance. 14, 540–556. https://doi.org/10.1108/sbm-10-2023-0124
Oliveira, M., & Carvalhal, A. (2000). Do football clubs with good governance have higher performances? Evidence from Brazil. Corporate Ownership and Control, 16(1), 7–12. https://doi.org/10.22495/cocv16i1art1
Pan, D., Baker, J., Zhu, Z., & Argent, E. (2005). An Econometric Analysis of Panel Data For Team Perfor-mance, Market Characteristics, and Attendance In English Premier League. Journal of Business and Leadership, 1(1), 201–210. https://doi.org/10.58809/wmst9723
Perechuda, I. (2020). Football Clubs Drowned by Players. Polish Journal of Sport and Tourism, 27(1), 28–32. https://doi.org/10.2478/pjst-2020-0005
Planas, C., & Kalemba, F. (2017). Managing sporting success and economic efficiency in the professional football: Identification of determinant factors through the academic literature. European Ac-counting and Management Review, 3(2), 45–64.
Rezende, A. J., & F. Z. (2015). Práticas de governança corporativa e indicadores de performance dos clubes de futebol: umaanálise das relaçõesestruturais (Vol. 18).
Rompotis, G. G. (2024). Financial Performance of the English Football Clubs. International Journal of Finance Research, 5(2), 181–203. https://doi.org/10.47747/ijfr.v5i2.1792
Ruta, D., Lorenzon, L., & Sironi, E. (2020). The relationship between governance structure and football club performance in Italy and England. Sport, Business and Management. 10, 17–37. https://doi.org/10.1108/sbm-10-2018-0081
Scafarto, V., & Dimitropoulos, P. (2018). Human capital and financial performance in professional foot-ball: the role of governance mechanisms. Corporate Governance: The International Journal of Business in Society, 18(2), 289–316. https://doi.org/10.1108/cg-05-2017-0096
Schönberner, J., Walzel, S., & Woratschek, H. (2024). Sport sponsorship in the logic of value co-creation. Research Handbook on Major Sporting Events, 207–227. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800885653.00024
Schuth, M., Brosi, P., Folger, N., Chen, G., & R. E. (2023). When new talent scores: The impact of human capital and the team socialization context on newcomer performance in professional sports teams. Journal of Applied Psychology, 108(6), 1046–1059. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0001060
Smith, M. L. (2020). The Resource-Based View and Dynamic Capabilities: Considering Competitive Ad-vantage in the Gallagher Rugby Premiership.
Sors, F., Grassi, M., Agostini, T., & Murgia, M. (2022). A complete season with attendance restrictions confirms the relevant contribution of spectators to home advantage and referee bias in association football. Peerj, 10–e13681. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.13681
Soyguden, A., Schneider, R. C., Barut, Y., & O. (2019). Factors Affecting Stadium Attendance of Profes-sional Football Club Supporters. Baltic Journal of Sport and Health Sciences, 3(114), 3. https://doi.org/10.33607/bjshs.v3i114.806
Trost, J. (2022). How to evaluate the financial performance of soccer clubs (Doctoral dissertation. Hochschule Rhein-Waal.
Van De Ven, N. (2011). Supporters are not necessary for the home advantage: Evidence from same-stadium derbies and games without an audience. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 41(12), 2785–2792.
Zou, K. (2023). A Study of Home Audiences Affects the Team’s Performance. Highlights in Science, En-gineering and Technology, 47, 131–135. https://doi.org/10.54097/hset.v47i.8181
Zülch, H., Palme, M., & Jost, S. P. (2018). Management quality of professional football clubs: the Football Management (FoMa) Q-Score. Business and Management: An International Journal, 10(5), 567–598. https://doi.org/10.1108/sbm-10-2019-0092
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Daniel Getnet, Zealem Melkamu, Sisay Mengistu
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and ensure the magazine the right to be the first publication of the work as licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of authorship of the work and the initial publication in this magazine.
- Authors can establish separate additional agreements for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal (eg, to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Is allowed and authors are encouraged to disseminate their work electronically (eg, in institutional repositories or on their own website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as to a subpoena more Early and more of published work (See The Effect of Open Access) (in English).
This journal provides immediate open access to its content (BOAI, http://legacy.earlham.edu/~peters/fos/boaifaq.htm#openaccess) on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. The authors may download the papers from the journal website, or will be provided with the PDF version of the article via e-mail.
