Football brands

the long version

Researchers, media and analysts increasingly refer to football clubs as brands. Certainly concepts such as loyalty, affiliation, emotional and rational ties with football clubs seem to parallel the discussion of consumer and business relationships with brands in the broader marketing sphere. Moreover, the field of marketing theory and practice has, over recent decades, widened its interest in brands in different sectors, examples being corporate brands, global brands, not-for-profit brands and e-brands. This book reviews research material in the field of branding and marketing in the football industry.