The football industry. A literature review and future research avenues in the risk management perspective

The transformation of the professional football industry into a multi-billion-dollar industry has attracted increasing attention from regulators, investors and academics in recent years. Such interest has also been reflected in the exponential growth of economic-managerial scientific production on the subject. However, there is still no comprehensive overview of the literature. The objective of this paper is to achieve a systematisation of the scientific research conducted in the period between 1977 and 2023, identifying the current state of production, emerging research areas, and future research trajectories in the risk management perspective of football clubs. To this end, a bibliometric and systematic review were developed on 1.081 and 18 papers published during this period, respectively. Statistical processes useful for developing the analysis were conducted using Bibliometrix on data retrieved from the Scopus database. The results revealed the need to further investigate the declination of endogenous and exogenous determinants of risk drivers and their relationship with volatility of sports performance for professional football clubs.

The transformation of the professional football industry into a multi-billion-dollar industry has attracted increasing attention from regulators, investors and academics in recent years. Such interest has also been reflected in the exponential growth of economic-managerial scientific production on the subject. However, there is still no comprehensive overview of the literature. The objective of this paper is to achieve a systematisation of the scientific research conducted in the period between 1977 and 2023, identifying the current state of production, emerging research areas, and future research trajectories in the risk management perspective of football clubs. To this end, a bibliometric and systematic review were developed on 1.081 and 18 papers published during this period, respectively. Statistical processes useful for developing the analysis were conducted using Bibliometrix on data retrieved from the Scopus database. The results revealed the need to further investigate the declination of endogenous and exogenous determinants of risk drivers and their relationship with volatility of sports performance for professional football clubs.

Parole chiave:; Football industry; Bibliometric analysis; Systematic review; reviewBibliometrix; BibliometrixScopus; Risk management

• Modelling systematic risk in the European football sector: Evidence from listed clubs and market indices Mohamed Amine Nabli, Haykel Hamdi, Ikrame Ben Slimane, in International Review of Economics & Finance 104702/2025 pp.104702
  DOI: 10.1016/j.iref.2025.104702
• Governance, management, sustainability, and performance in the football industry: A bibliometric analysis Carmen Gallucci, Riccardo Tipaldi, in CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT STUDIES 1/2024 pp.101
  DOI: 10.3280/cgrds1-2024oa16958
• The evolution of the European football transfer network Pierpaolo D’Urso, Livia De Giovanni, Lorenzo Federico, in Journal of Big Data 251/2025
  DOI: 10.1186/s40537-025-01275-7

Antonio Renzi, Pietro Taragoni, The football industry. A literature review and future research avenues in the risk management perspective in "CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT STUDIES" 2/2023, pp 115-152, DOI: 10.3280/cgrds2-2023oa16952