Leadership and Organizational Culture in Football

Abstract

Football coaches often play a differentiating role for the clubs, helping them to survive in a demanding mediatic, changing, and competitive environment where innovation may arise regarding leadership. This chapter seeks to unveil the perceptions of football coaches as leaders and the role of the football clubs' organizational culture in affirming this leadership. Studies on leadership constitute a broad field of organizational and management theories, highlighting the role of personality traits, as well as the organizational and social contexts surrounding the leaders' actions. As there is no significant academic literature on football coaches and leadership, it was sought to explore the coaches' perceptions as leaders, as well as the influence of the clubs' organizational culture in which they developed their activity. Based on 22 interviews with football coaches of reference clubs, this chapter highlights their difficulties, demands, and needs to deal with their professional context.