Match-fixing in European grassroots football

Abstract

Research question: As empirical evidence on match-fixing within the European grassroots football context is scarce, this paper seeks to demonstrate that match-fixing is a serious organizational problem for the grassroots of football. Moreover, it aims to detect protective organizational capacities – alone and in concert – against match-fixing and explain them theoretically.Research methods: Match-fixing is discussed from a sociological and economic perspective and analyzed within the organizational capacity framework. The empirical evaluation is based on n = 3004 European grassroots football clubs in five countries. Descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression models demonstrate the effects of organizational capacities alone and in concert.Results and Findings: Empirical evidence on scale and dispersion of the organizational problem match-fixing is provided. Results from the regression models indicate that particularly revenue diversification and socio-structural capacities are protective capacities.Implications: It is important to analyze both, individual and in concert effects of organizational capacities on the problem of match-fixing. Practical recommendations are provided.

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