Stakeholder governance and sustainability in football: A bibliometric analysis

Abstract

This study presents a bibliometric analysis of stakeholder governance and sustainability in football. The PRISMA statement and the main techniques from the existing bibliometric analysis toolbox are applied to guide the research. The analysis includes 127 documents from Scopus and WoS, covering the period from 2007 to mid-2023, to examine the performance analysis and science mapping of the subject over time. The study's key findings highlight publication-related metrics, citation-and-publication-related metrics, co-authorship analysis, and co-word analysis. The analysis also identifies research gaps, including the need to explore barriers to stakeholder governance in football, the application of stakeholder pressure frameworks in football clubs, the examination of mimetic and normative pressures in the context of sustainability and governance in football, and the involvement of stakeholders and football institutions in collaborative efforts to enhance the effectiveness and impact of sustainability initiatives. © 2023 The Authors