Sports Management

Research Projects     Staff     Publications     Partnerships

The Sport Management team conducts research in the area of sport-for-all management and policy with a particular focus on inter-organizational collaborations, and in ethics management in sport; and educates master students and professionals to become sport managers.

In particular, a first research line focuses on the effectiveness of sport-for-all programs , collaboration types, decision-making mechanisms, and processes in place on practitioners, organizational, and policy level. We are also starting with research into eSports and sport technology, and how this can be put strategically into practice to build an effective sport-for-all program which attracts new audiences. We also study professionalization in sport management and sport policy. The Sport Management team is known for the managerial and inter-organizational relationship approach to the challenges of sport-for-all and sport policy.

In a second research line we study how sport can be good (sport ethics) and do good (corporate social responsibility and cause-related marketing). The sport world has a complex relationship with ethics and values. On the one hand, a lot of benefits come with the practice and organization of sport, such as health, social cohesion, social capital,… On the other hand, sport is suffering from a moral crisis: match-fixing, bad governance, doping, .. are featured in the media every day. This paradox has to be managed and guided in the right direction. Research on sport ethics and Olympic values is embedded in the Olympic Chair Henri de Baillet Latour-Jacques Rogge. The Sport Management team is known for its research on match-fixing, ethical leadership, and cause-related marketing.

Contact information

Prof. dr. Annick Willem - Prof. dr. Bram Constandt

Assistant: Thibault Fouquaert