<p> </p><p>This study is made, on behalf of Västerbottens Fotbollsförbund, with the purpose to investigate how the 2008 financial crisis have affected the sponsorship to the voluntary sports sector in the Västerbotten region, with focus on the womens elite football teams. The background of this study was to investigate the effect of the financial crisis to help the voluntary organizations in the future. The study was carried out with a qualitative approach as depth interviews with ten people representing both the voluntary organizations and the sponsoring companies, which one was a previous sponsor. To understand and interpret the result of the interviews we used models such as the stakeholder model, the A-ERIC model and a communication model for sponsorship from literature such as Donaldson and Preston (1995), Mitchell et. al. (1997) and Jiffer and Roos (1999). The result indicated that the financial crisis of 2008 had an effect on the voluntary sport sector in Västerbotten on many different levels. The voluntary organizations work differently today towards sponsors than they did a couple of years ago but this has nothing to do with the financial crises. It is rather a procedure they are going through to keep the companies interested. The result also evinced that communication is important to establish a good relation, but this has not changed during the crisis.</p>

This study is made, on behalf of Västerbottens Fotbollsförbund, with the purpose to investigate how the 2008 financial crisis have affected the sponsorship to the voluntary sports sector in the Västerbotten region, with focus on the womens elite football teams. The background of this study was to investigate the effect of the financial crisis to help the voluntary organizations in the future. The study was carried out with a qualitative approach as depth interviews with ten people representing both the voluntary organizations and the sponsoring companies, which one was a previous sponsor. To understand and interpret the result of the interviews we used models such as the stakeholder model, the A-ERIC model and a communication model for sponsorship from literature such as Donaldson and Preston (1995), Mitchell et. al. (1997) and Jiffer and Roos (1999). The result indicated that the financial crisis of 2008 had an effect on the voluntary sport sector in Västerbotten on many different levels. The voluntary organizations work differently today towards sponsors than they did a couple of years ago but this has nothing to do with the financial crises. It is rather a procedure they are going through to keep the companies interested. The result also evinced that communication is important to establish a good relation, but this has not changed during the crisis.