National football leagues as a source of soft power

ABSTRACT

This study seeks to determine if the development of a country’s national football league is significantly correlated with its soft power. Moreover, this research aims to provide a better understanding of the factors that contribute to the cultural soft power of a country besides sporting mega-events and develops a novel soft power managerial perspective. We first estimated the model using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and then applied the General Linear Model (GLM) to enhance the robustness of the analysis. The results suggest that investment in football development can powerfully influence soft power. The league’s cultural heritage and its talented players contribute more than the rest of the variables to increase the soft power score. Institutions and organisations from countries with relatively low soft power could still benefit from investment in football development. Finally, this study highlights the importance of the football industry and its historical heritage preservation as critical elements within a country’s soft power strategy.

KEYWORDS:

• Soft power
• football industry
• national leagues
• sports heritage
• competition

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Regional Government of Castille and Leon (Spain) under Grant, reference VA180P20.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Junta de Castilla y León [VA180P20].

Notes on contributors

Ricardo Gúdel

Ricardo Gúdel is an Associate Lecturer of Business Management and International Trade at the University of Valladolid. He is also a member of the International Trade Chair and the Asian Studies Centre of this university. Ricardo is currently a PhD candidate, and his thesis focuses on studying the geopolitical management of football in Asia. In recent years, he has developed his professional activity in foreign trade and sports. His research focuses mainly on the competitiveness and efficiency of European and Asian football industries and the geopolitical impact of sports.

Emilio Hernández-Correa

Emilio Hernández-Correa has a PhD in Economics and is an Associate Professor of international trade and cultural intelligence at the University of Valladolid. He is the Deputy Director of the Asian Studies Centre (University of Valladolid). He has worked and researched the tourism and trade sectors in China for two years. His research also focuses on the Chinese sports industry, outbound Chinese tourism and its economic impact, international trade with China and intercultural relations in companies and organisations. Emilio has recently published his first book about Chinese global governance.

Laura Heredero

Laura Heredero is a PhD student at the University of Valladolid and a member of the Asian Studies Centre of this university. Her research focuses on cultural management mechanisms in Europe and Asia. She is also interested in the study of the role of the sports industry in culture promotion.

Javier Pajares

Javier Pajares is a Full Professor in Business Management at the University of Valladolid (Spain). He holds a professional certification as a Project Manager by the International Project Management Association (AEIPRO-IPMA). His research and teaching activities are related to Project Management and Innovation Management. He is especially interested in improving sports events management by extending and adapting general project management standards and methodologies.