Abstract Background: The increasing professionalization of sports clubs has led to a shift in their objectives to include social responsibility in addition to sporting success. The change is due to the demand from society for organizations to contribute back to society and the need for clubs to maintain authentic relationships within their communities. Swedish elite football clubs are no exception, as they engage in socially responsible activities contributing to Swedish society. The clubs' shared practices can be explained by institutional isomorphism, a core concept within institutional theory. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to explore how stakeholders' expectations concerning CSR are managed within Swedish elite football clubs and what incentivizes the clubs to conduct CSR. The thesis will provide an understanding of how CSR is conducted and illuminate current management practices between organizations and stakeholders. Method: A qualitative interview study has been conducted with the support of secondary sources such as websites and documents. Purposive and snowball sampling has been applied to acquire relevant interview participants. The thesis utilized thematic analysis to arrive at meaningful and rich conclusions. Conclusion: The conclusion states that managing stakeholder expectations in CSR requires involving them in the process and considering their feedback and demands. The incentives for CSR include stakeholder pressures and a desire to contribute to society. Communication, information sharing, and collaboration are crucial in managing relationships between organizations and stakeholders.

Bakgrund: Hamstringsskada är den vanligaste skadan inom elitfotboll och har hög återfallsrisk. I samband med hamstringsskador är arbetet intensivt då spelaren helst ska vara tillbaka snabbt för att bidra till lagets prestation. Rehabiliteringen behöver trots sin intensitet vara av långsiktig karaktär och förhindra att skadan återkommer i framtiden. Syfte: Att undersöka fysioterapeuters upplevelser av faktorer som påverkar rehabilitering av hamstringsskador hos herrfotbollsspelare i svenska elitfotbollsklubbar. Metod: Kvalitativ semistrukturerad intervjustudie med deskriptiv design. Ett ändamålsenligt urval gjordes och fem fysioterapeuter inom svensk elitfotboll intervjuades. Data analyserades med kvalitativ innehållsanalys med en induktiv ansats. Resultat: Analysen resulterade i fem kategorier och 19 underkategorier. Kategorierna var fysioterapeutens förutsättningar, spelarens förutsättningar, yttre press, bemötande av spelare och återgångens omständigheter. Med utgångspunkt i fysioterapeuters upplevelser framhålls spelaren, tränaren och den egna kunskapen som de mest betydande faktorerna av rehabiliteringen av hamstringsskador. Slutsats: Upplevelserna kunde kopplas till fysioterapeuten som individ, dess omgivning och beteende. Fysioterapeuterna upplevde att det krävdes anpassning av sitt beteende efter omständigheter i omgivningen för att åstadkomma en lyckosam rehabilitering. Studiens resultat är svårt att generalisera då antalet fysioterapeuter som medverkade i studien var få. / Bakground: Hamstring injury is the most common injury in elite football and has a high re- injury rate. The rehabilitation of hamstring injuries are intense since the player should preferably be back quickly to contribute to the team performance. Despite the intensity of the rehabilitation, it needs to be of a long-term perspective and prevent future re-injury. Aim: To explore physiotherapists’ experiences of factors that affect rehabilitation of hamstring injuries in male football players in Swedish elite football clubs. Method: Qualitative semistructured interview study with descriptive design. A purposive sample of five physiotherapists, working with Swedish elite football were interviewed. The data collection was analyzed with qualitative content analysis with an inductive approach. Result: The analysis resulted in five categories and 19 subcategories. The categories were the physiotherapist’s conditions, the player’s condition, external pressure, approach with the player and the circumstances of the return to play. The physiotherapists’ experienced that the player, the coach and the knowledge of the physiotherapist are the most important factors in rehabilitation of hamstring injuries. Conclusion: Physiotherapists experienced that adaptation of their behavior was required according to the circumstances of the surrounding environment to achieve successfull rehabilitation. The study’s result is difficult to generalize as the number of physiotherapists involved in the study was few.

Sports clubs face numerous challenges, including economic fluctuations, shifting supporter preferences, and changes in regulations and policies. However, the unpredictable nature of athletic performance makes it difficult to forecast future financial outcomes, which can negatively impact planning and operations. Effective risk management is crucial for clubs to navigate these uncertainties and maintain long-term sustainability. The limited ability of Swedish clubs to access external funding sources, due to regulations on ownership and governance, poses challenges in managing risks effectively, as it restricts investment in new projects and response to unexpected and volatile events. Swedish clubs' managers face distinctive obstacles compared to their international counterparts due to the unique context they operate in.  The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what risks Swedish elite football clubs face due to the uncertain and volatile environment of sports, and to explore how these risks are managed. By identifying the various risks these clubs encounter, this study aims to shed light on how they maintain their competitive edge through proactive risk management strategies.  This thesis’ methodology is structured as a qualitative interview study consisting of eight semi-structured interviews with eight Swedish elite football clubs. The study uses a purposive sampling method, in order to focus on the unique regulations of Swedish sports clubs, as well the largest sport in Sweden, football. Moreover, the thesis employed a thematic analysis approach to analyse the data and draw conclusions.   The results of the study show that managers in Swedish elite football clubs adopt a hybrid approach to risk management, leveraging an experience-based approach and complementing it with a long-term strategic approach. This allows them to align decisions and risk management practices with their objectives and stakeholder expectations, and through balancing competitiveness and risk-taking, they establish attainable objectives that gradually lead to sustainable success. Moreover, the results show that larger clubs with a substantial number of members prioritise the opinions and interests of their members, who serve as a crucial source of income and primary stakeholders. In contrast, smaller clubs with fewer members rely more on sponsors and partners for income.

This study aims to explore how individuals who are operating Swedish elite football clubs manage the tension between non-profit and commercial logics, and whether organizational form is important when managing them. The respondents in this study are individuals with positions at the very highest organizational level, and predetermined themes that concern the tension within Swedish elite football were used in the design of the interview guide. The results were then analysed from a new institutional perspective. The outcome showed that elite football clubs tend to use similar strategies when managing the logics regardless of organizational form. / Denna studie ämnar undersöka hur individer som är verksamma inom svenska elitfotbollsföreningar hanterar spänningen mellan ideella och kommersiella logiker och om organisationsform har betydelse för hanteringen av dem. Respondenterna i denna studie är individer med befattningar på allra högsta organisatoriska nivå och förutbestämda teman som berör spänningen inom svensk elitfotboll användes vid utformandet av intervjuguiden. Resultaten analyserades sedan ur ett nyinstitutionellt perspektiv. Utfallet visade att elitfotbollsföreningar tenderar att använda likartade strategier vid hanteringen av logikerna oberoende av organisationsform.