MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES FOR SOCCER INDUSTRIES IN THE DIGITAL AGE BASED ON THE PERSISTENT COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

If you think of Germany and sports, football is always the first thing that comes to mind. For more than 100 years, team sport has been part of society and fascinates a large part of the population. No wonder, in Germany alone, there are more than 7 million club members. Sport often manages to connect people in a positive sense. Politics is left out, and the world is associated with many international games. Before Corona, only games of the 1st Bundesliga in Germany had more than 13 million spectators. However, a unique infrastructure is needed to handle the volume regardless of the entertainment concept. However, this came with the entrance of the Covid-19 Pandemic to the succumbing to strict restrictions like plays without spectators, which resulted in economic disadvantages and bottlenecks. No club was prepared for an international loss of this magnitude; thus, there were no solutions.