Board Characteristics in Football clubs: Evidence from the Greek Superleague 2005-2014

Football corporations in continental Europe are the biggest athleticcompanies. Millions are spent for transfers and the creation of a stronger image.However, in many cases scandals such as the FIFA’s corruption case and the Greek36football scandal in 2015 and Italian football scandal in 2006 have blemished thisglamourous industry. Particularly, in Greece the poor financial state of manyfootball teams lead to the pilling off debts to the state, which have never beenpaid back. This study examines the board of directors of 31 professional footballclubs between 2006, the introductory year of the Greek Superleague, and 2014with monthly observations, providing a better understanding of the people thatrun these corporations. The study, unique in its field, among others focuses onthe following elements: the board configuration, the board size, the CEO duality,the tenure of the board and the directors and the gender diversity. Starting byanalysing the relevant literature and with the use of secondary data from thefootball clubs, the present study provides us with interesting outcomes. One ofthe most interesting findings is that the average tenure of the board is 23.8months, whilst the average board size fluctuates between 7.6 and 10.2 directorswithout a specific trend.