How can clubs play an essential role in talent identification and development programmes? A case study of German football

Abstract

HRM activities include resourcing and development, compensation and incentives, and involvement and job design. In modern football, players influence the value of a team. In this regard, the benefits of club collaboration with talent identification and talent development programmes are the expansion of football, savings in player values, monetization, and transferring value to the teams. This study examined the role of German clubs in the country’s talent identification programme using a qualitative meta-synthesis approach that followed Sandelowski and Barroso’s method. From the 70 documents selected, 923 open codes and 186 concepts were obtained. The results demonstrated that legal developments and their implications in the centralized and global management of German football leagues have been significant in optimally managing clubs and establishing appropriate cooperation with other football institutions, including the German Football Association (DFB) and the German Football League (DFL) with DFB regional bases, performance centres, amateur clubs, and regional/state associations.

Keywords:

• Football development
• football management
• human resource management
• talent development
• talent management

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest.

Notes

1 Related to ministry of education.

2 1859 repetitive open codes.

3 These players explained in the first research question.