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Abstract
Five-a-side football has become the most popular form of football in England and the sport's national governing body, the Football Association (FA), has recognized that it must develop its role in this market. As part of its Football Development Strategy (2001), the FA has stated that it needs to develop partnerships with relevant public and private sector organizations. Against this background this paper has two aims. Firstly, the authors explore with selected stakeholders their views regarding the FA's role in developing five-a-side football through strategic alliances. Secondly, by drawing on the literature and their fieldwork, the authors present a framework for examining strategic alliance options that can be applied by national governing bodies of other sports. The results of the research study suggest that the FA should play a key role in developing the five-a-side football market and, through its network of County FAs, seek strategic alliances with stakeholders from the private, public and voluntary sectors. The framework presented by the authors assists the FA and other national governing bodies in the planning of strategic alliances.