Bo Carlsson

Insolvency and the domestic juridification of football in Sweden

We can observe an ongoing external, as well as an internal, juridification of football, which means that the legal system and a legal rationality has become to an increasingly degree mixed up with football. Whether applying an internal or an external perspective the juridification process and the regulation can be understood as an outcome of the increasing commercialization and professionalization of football. In the wake of the commercialization process various clubs have suffered, and still suffer, from overspendings, in Sweden as well as in other European countries. In this respect, the regulation of football licenses in Sweden, which was introduced in 2001, constitutes the main subject in this essay. The regulation was introduced by the Swedish Football Association, mainly as an internal response to the acceleration of expenses in Swedish football. By focusing on football licenses and their regulation the essay intends to shed light on the ‘internal juridification of sport’. And by taking a departure in a socio‐legal perspective, the regulation will be connected to a reflection on its impact on the development of football.

Football in Scandinavia: a fusion of welfare policy and the market

Taylor and Francis Ltd FSAS_A_377306.sgm 10.1080/14660970902771365 Socce Society 466-0970 (pri t)/1743-9590 (online) Original Article 2 09 & Fran s 3/4 0 000May-Ju 2009 rbjorn nders on . ndersson@mah.se Football – or soccer – plays, and has played, a significant role in Scandinavian/Nordic Society, and for the development of society. No doubt! Football in the Scandinavian countries could be described as an amalgam of voluntarism and commercialism with historical roots in the development of the Welfare State. With a legacy in voluntarism and idealism, the organization of football has generally been related to political and normative virtues such as democracy, social and moral fostering, and cultural ideals such as the integration of young people from the working class (in earlier days) or from immigrant groups (at the present time). Being a non-profit organization, the Sports Federations in Scandinavia should serve ‘sports for all’; but in this spacious ideal and method, nonetheless, the objective is to single out future elite athletes. In an international comparison the Scandinavian countries have supported amateurism longer than most nations. Notwithstanding a substantial position in voluntarism, the normative structure and the organization of Scandinavian football has faced an increasing professionalization and commercialization in the wake of the mounting globalization of football. In this respect we can observe a process of transition, in which elements of idealism as well as commercialism can be traced. This process focuses on elements that stand out as central on the present agenda in the discourse of the European Union and the UEFA, by capturing football as ‘business’, as well as football belonging to the cultural sphere, with a special focus on ‘the social significance of sport’ and ‘social cohesion’. This condition – of belonging to different spheres and values – creates a fertile soil for reflections on the future of football in relation to, for instance, morals, economy, culture, regulation and organization. The collection of essays will capture, in different perspectives, this problematic and uncertain position of Scandinavian football. Before presenting the contents of this set of essays, we will briefly introduce a number of short but crucial observations regarding the development or the structure of football in Scandinavia.

The position and relevance of sport studies: an introduction

How can sport science be defined and demarcated, and what is to be included in and regarded as sport are frequent questions asked by sport scientists. Despite serious and worthy ambitions, it appea...

The governance of sport from a Scandinavian perspective

In the study of The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (1989), the internationally renownedDanish researcher Gösta Esping-Andersen characterizes the Scandinavian countries as examples of a social democratic welfare model. Significant for this model is the ideal of equal social benefits to all citizens and far-reaching state ambitions concerning security and well-being for all members of society. Furthermore, the governments’ relatively high expenditures require a labour market policy prioritizing full employment and high tax revenues (Esping-Andersen 1989, 1996). For sports, this social democratic welfare model has led to substantial state support. However, despite the historical emphasis on state regulations in the Scandinavian countries, the governance of sport has been shaped by a considerable degree of autonomy and self-regulation. In the Scandinavian countries, sports have always had their roots in civil society – organized as a large ‘people’s movement’ on voluntary and idealistic premises. Thus, the states have permitted grants and subsidies but avoided political pressure with regard to regulation and normative development of sport clubs and federations. In this respect, Scandinavian sport has been able to uphold a normative autonomy regarding values, morals and sport policy, at least ideologically. Even if the idea of the idealistic virtue of sport as ‘spiritual fosterage’ and ‘physical education’ should not be taken too far, the ideology of a ‘popular movement’, voluntarism and fosterage plays a vital role. In recent decades many characteristics of the Scandinavian – or social democratic – welfare model have declined. The governance of society has become increasingly differentiated with more individualistic and pragmatic approaches towards welfare and governance. These changes can also be seen in the field of sports. Despite some continuance, the Scandinavian sport model has become gradually more differentiated due to comprehensive societal processes such as professionalization, commercialization and globalization. For instance, club football in Denmark has become highly commercialized, regardless of its history of strong amateurism. Norway is facing a similar development. In Sweden, the commercialization of sport has been held back somewhat by the prevailing ideology of sport as a voluntary movement. In the long run, however, it can be questioned whether this ideology of voluntarism can retain its strong position. The Scandinavian societies and their welfare systems are in transition – and so are sports and the governance of sport. Lately, several journals have published articles concerning sports in Scandinavia. For instance, in 2009, Torbjörn Andersson and Bo Carlsson were the editors of a theme issue in Soccer and Society concerning ‘Football in Scandinavia: A Fusion of Welfare Policy and the Market’. In May 2010 Sport in Society published a theme issue with the title ‘Sport in Scandinavian Societies’ (Ørnulf et al. 2010). In addition, in 2008 an issue on ‘Swedish Physical Education Research’ was published in Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy (Quennerstedt and Öhman 2008). These articles have without doubt shed new insights into sports in the Scandinavian countries. Some articles also deal with questions concerning sport policy and the governance of sport, at least implicitly. Regardless of this, we find the need of a International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics Vol. 3, No. 3, November 2011, 305–309

A diagnosis of the commercial immaturity of Swedish club football.

This article presents a critical diagnosis of Swedish club football, in light of its current shortcomings on the European football market, and in comparison with the other Scandinavian leagues. The article highlights the commercial immaturity of the Swedish clubs, in addition to the context of historical and cultural values, restricted association forms, the emphasis on internationalism, the fixed tax system, the standards of the arenas, the lack of patronage and the migration of talents. The analysis closes with a depressed depiction of Swedish club football, in relation to development in Europe, as well as in Scandinavia. Still, in a dialectical reasoning this situation is, finally, evaluated as a valuable development in relation to fairness, internal sports logics as well as ecological values.

Legal and Moral Pluralism : Normative Tensions in a Nordic Sport Model in Transition

As a departure from sport ethics and sociology of law this article deals with norms, rules, ethical principles and legal instruments that have an influence on the development of sport. The subject is connected to the Nordic regulation of sport, with a tradition of self-regulation and internal dispute resolutions; recently this ‘autonomy’ has been challenged by the interests of the market, different political pressures and by ethical discourses in the civil society. This is conceptualized as a state of normative tension and a ‘sport model’ in transition. The ethical departure focuses on the phenomenology of sport, illuminating internal values important to sport and the development of different conflict resolutions within sport organisations. The socio-legal perspective places sport in a social and normative context, focussing on various normative sources exterior to sport that will have an impact on the development of sport.

The blend of normative uncertainty and commercial immaturity in Swedish ice hockey

By describing and analysing normative uncertainties and the commercial immaturity in Swedish ice hockey (Swedish Hockey League/Swedish Ice Hockey Association), this article focuses on the tension and dialectics in Swedish sport; increasingly greater commercial attempts (i.e. entrepreneurship, ‘Americanization’, multi-arenas, innovations and public limited companies) have to be mixed with a generally non-profit making organization (e.g. the Swedish Sports Confederation) and its traditional values of health, democracy and youth sports and fosterage. In this respect, the elite ice hockey clubs are situated in a legal culture of two parallel norm systems: the tradition of self-regulation in sport and in civil law (e.g. commercial law). Indeed, the incoherent blend of idealism and commercialism in Swedish elite hockey appears to be fertile ground for hazardous (sports) management and indebtedness. This mix of ‘uncertainty’ and ‘immaturity’ has given rise to various financial trickeries and negligence, which have subsequently developed into legal matters. Consequently, the legal system appears to have become a playground for Swedish ice hockey. This article reflects on the reasons and the rationale in this frictional development by focusing on a legal case that comes under the Business Reorganisation Act. The analysis reveals support for a ‘soft’ juridification process in Swedish ice hockey in order to handle the charging tension of the two parallel norm systems.

Scandinavian women’s football in a global world: migration, management and mixed identity

This special issue has grown out of an ongoing Nordic collaborative research project (Nordcorp) using Scandinavian women’s football as a strategically selected extreme case (of organizational devel ...

Scandinavian women’s football in world: migration, management and mixed identity

This special issue has grown out of an ongoing Nordic collaborative research project (Nordcorp) using Scandinavian women’s football as a strategically selected extreme case (of organizational devel ...

A diagnosis of environmental awareness in sport and sport policy

This article sheds light on the problematic, but urgent, relation between sport and its environmental effects by focusing on the development of internal policies in the Swedish sport movement as well as on external normative pressures for a sustainable environmental development. The materials in this study portray a passive (and blind) governance in relation to an official environmental policy at macro and meso levels, regardless of the manifestations of individual environmental projects in everyday sport practices. The analysis shows that the ideology of the autonomy of sport and the emphasis on self-regulation, regularly upheld by the Swedish Sports Confederation, is obsolete.