The historic treble in football (2012)

This is the fifteenth number in the series of Sport Policy & Management Reports. The Sport Policy & Management Reports are intended to contribute to the social-scientific research on policy and management with regard to sport and physical activity. These publications are a product of the Policy in Sports & Physical Activity Research Group, Department of Kinesiology, KU Leuven, Belgium. The aim of this report is to explain how the organisation and structure of football has transformed from the early developments of association football in England at the end of the 19th century up until its current state. As Europe has always been the epicentre of football, the focus is almost inevitably on driving forces mostly situated at the European of EU-level. More specifically, the report analyses the economic, political and legal driving forces, since those have been referred to in the literature as being the most crucial in the transformation of football.