This thesis aims at providing a cross-cultural study of how football museums represent and construct identities, both collective and personal. The research is based on a multi-sited ethnography at selected football museums in the UK, Germany, and China, employing participant observation, photographic recording and online research methods. This investigation sharpens an anthropological awareness of constructions of multiple layered identities by examining football museums' exhibiting practices and activity programmes, as well as their built environments and cultural settings. The research also offers a perspective on museum visitors, who consume football museums with diverse personal and collective identity claims. Looking into the largely under-explored terrain of football museums, this research joins continuing anthropological efforts to understand identity work while also exploring continuing tensions inherent in a marriage between museums and football. The thesis contributes to the research field of football/sports museums with an ethnographic emphasis and a cross-cultural range.

This study aimed to extend the knowledge on player and surface loading by contributing new data in relation to a greater range of movements, relevant in-game scenarios and on carefully controlled third generation artificial turf surfaces. This was done by selecting soccer relevant movements and in-game scenarios for a player movement study with the help of a player focus group and questionnaire. Furthermore, four surfaces were created with surface hardness and rotational traction values at the upper and lower limits of the standards set by FIFA. The study showed that both the surface hardness and rotational traction properties can affect the human movement dynamics, though these effects were mainly present during the stop and turn manoeuvre. During the stop and turn manoeuvre the soft and high traction surfaces conditions led to increased frontal plane moments as well as increased average ground reaction forces during mid-stance. In combination with decreased ground contact times it appeared that the players were able to decelerate / accelerate faster and generate a larger force on the soft and high traction surfaces. During peak push off it appeared that the players were able to generate a larger force on the hard surfaces, which also led to a significant increase in plantar flexion moment. While some parameters showed an effect for surface hardness and / or rotational traction across all four surface conditions, for others such as the knee valgus, hip extension and hip internal rotation moment showed only a significant effect between two of the four surfaces. At the same time the other surfaces showed either no effect or the opposite effect. This suggests that the effects of the surface hardness can be influenced by the rotational traction properties, and vice versa. Regarding the jumping / heading manoeuvre the effects of the surface conditions were limited. This may have been related to the high demands of the movement, or to limitations of the mechanical measurement methods. In addition to the effects of surface properties on human movement dynamics the study also showed that the mechanical measurement methods may not be representative of the human loading. The impact force conditions of the advanced artificial athlete were substantially different to that of the stop and turn and jumping / heading manoeuvre. Whereas for the rotational traction test the study showed that the rotation of the foot during the ST was substantially less than the minimum 45° required by the FIFA guidelines. Regarding the inclusion of in-game scenarios the study showed that both the simulated opponent used for the stop and turn manoeuvre, and heading a ball during a maximal vertical stop jump manoeuvre can affect the human movement dynamics. During the stop and turn with a simulated opponent the frontal plane moments in the lower limbs were significantly increased. However, this increase in joint loading could not be related to any changes in movement strategy. During the landing after heading a ball during a maximal vertical stop jump the players used a different landing strategy by landing in a more upright position and increasing the ankle plantar flexion ankle just before lading. This allowed for a larger change in the ankle plantar / dorsi flexion angle to absorb the impact of the landing. In addition to this, the heading manoeuvre also led to a significant increase in the frontal plane joint moments of the lower limbs. For future studies it is recommended that a combination of surface properties is used to gain insight into how these affect each other regarding the effects they have on human movement dynamics. In addition, they should provide detailed information on the surface design as well as the properties. Regarding the quantification of the properties it is recommended that in addition to industry standards the surfaces are also quantified using conditions closer to those expected within the study. It is also recommended that future studies incorporate in-game scenarios in order to gain more insight into the effects of interventions that simulate actual match situations.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the levels of interdependency (simultaneity) between the performances of two direct opponents in professional football. More specifically, interdependency between performances is investigated at three different levels. Firstly, empirical analyses are conducted in order to assess the levels of interdependency between the performances of two teams in direct competition using team-game observations. Secondly, data on team formations and player starting positions within these formations is utilised in order to uniquely match individual players to a sole opponent on the field of play. Further empirical analyses are then conducted in order to investigate the levels of interdependency at this more isolated individual player level using player-game observations. Finally, an empirical investigation into the levels of interdependency between the performances of a positional unit (defence or attack) and their opposing team (as a collective) is conducted using positional unit-game observations. An exclusive and detailed data set ranging from the 2007-08 season to the 2010-11 season is utilised in order to estimate several production functions for teams, individual players and positional units competing in the German Bundesliga. The results in all empirical analyses confirm that the performance of the opponent is significant. At a team and positional unit level, no evidence is found to suggest that the performances of two direct opponents(s) are interdependent, however the results reveal that the recent past performances of the opponent(s) have a significant linear impact upon the performance of the subject. In particular, relative team form going in to a match is revealed to have a significant impact upon the performance of their opponent. At an individual player level, evidence is found to confirm that the performances of players in direct competition are interdependent thus supporting the sports economics theory of joint production. Specifically, the results reveal that the performances of defenders have a significant and negative impact upon the performances of their opposing attackers.

Cette thèse évalue et explique l’impact économique des nouveaux stades sur l’écosystème d’affaires du football professionnel français. Entre 2008 et 2016, 13 nouvelles enceintes ont été créées ou ont été rénovées. L’objectif visé par ce programme est de permettre l’évolution des modèles de revenus des clubs, et en parallèle la baisse des subventions publiques qui leur sont versées. Ce modèle avait été observé en Allemagne à la suite d’un programme similaire réalisé entre 2001 et 2006. Dans un premier temps, à partir de ces ambitions, les indicateurs utilisés pour effectuer une analyse comparée France-Allemagne, montrent que les résultats économiques attendus sont éloignés des espérances. Dans le but d’identifier les liens de causalité entre les objectifs ex ante et les résultats ex post, une analyse des modalités de programmation et d’exploitation de la ressource stade est réalisée à l’aide de 7 monographies. Cette recherche inductive fait émerger des limites structurelles, financières et organisationnelles importantes, générées par les logiques d’acteurs de ces projets. Il apparaît en effet, par faute de leader, que les collectivités territoriales, les clubs et les sociétés privées du bâtiment n’ont pas su enclencher le processus de coévolution nécessaire à la bonne programmation de ces « outils de production ». Il est ainsi montré comment l’alchimie de la compétence joue un rôle central dans la création d’une nouvelle ressource. Outre le savoir et le savoir-faire, la volonté d’action, de partage, définis quant à eux par la notion de « savoir-être », éclairent les logiques initiales d’acteurs et expliquent l’impact final de la politique publique de rénovation des stades en France. Ainsi, grâce à ce cas spécifique, la recherche enrichit les travaux en management du sport portant sur la compréhension des performances économiques d’une organisation sportive, à travers l’analyse de ses actifs et son business model. Dans une logique de new public management, elle évalue la pertinence et l’efficience d’un programme de rénovation qui a mobilisé plus de 2 milliards d’euros de fonds publics. Enfin, dans une logique d’apprentissage et d’évolution ces travaux se concluent par des préconisations managériales. / This thesis assesses and explains the economical impact of new stadiums on the business ecosystem of French professional football. From 2008 to 2016, 13 new venues were built or renovated. The aim of this program is to enable the evolution of club revenue models, and, in parallel, the decline of the public subsidies paid to them. This model was witnessed in Germany following a similar program carried out between 2001 and 2006. Firstly, from these aspirations, the indicators used to perform a comparative analysis France-Germany, show that the expected economical results are far from expectations. In order to identify the causal links between ex ante objectives and ex post results, an analysis of the programming and exploitation modalities of the stadium resource is crafted using 7 monographs. This inductive search reveals important structural, financial and organizational limits, generated by the logics of these projects' actors. It appears, by absence of leader, that local communities, clubs and private building companies have failed to initiate the process of coevolution needed for the correct programming of these "tools of production". It therefore demonstrates how an alchemy of competence plays a central role in the creation of a new resource. In addition tothe knowledge and the « know-how », the will for action and sharing, defined by the notion of soft skills or « know-how-towbe », clarifies the initial logics of actors and explains the finalimpact of the stadiums' renovation's public policy in France. Thus, thanks to this specific case, the research enriches works in sports management dealing with the understanding of economic performance of a sports organization, through its assets and business model. Following a logic of new public management, it evaluates the relevance and efficiency of a renovation program that has mobilized more than 2 billion euros of public funds. Finally, following a logic of learning and evolution, this work eventually leads to managerial recommendations.