The policy of using foreign players and their impact on club success is still relevant and can be viewed from multiple angles. This article focuses on the impact of the proportion of foreign players’ appearances on the success of football clubs in their home leagues, as well as in European competitions. The research is focused on the most successful European clubs over the last ten years. A total of 19 European clubs were selected for research purposes, which resulted in 190 cases. Statistical tests, correlation, and regression analysis were used for their verification. The research shows that there is a dependence between the appearances by foreign players in matches and the success of clubs in domestic and European competitions. Furthermore, the trend of higher use of foreign players compared to domestic players was also proved. The presented research provides a different perspective on the issue, attributing greater importance to the appearances by players in matches compared to other studies, considering only the total number of foreign players.

Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues is a peer-reviewed journal which publishes original research papers and case studies

Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues is a peer-reviewed journal which publishes original research papers and case studies

Education leads to building successful careers. However, different groups of students have different studying preferences. Our target group are athletes, combining their education and sports training. The main objective is to provide recommendations for an effective education system for athletes, improving their chances of finding new careers after leaving sports. Such a system must include Big Data and utilise AI possibilities currently available that support athletes’ career planning and development in a meaningful way. The main objective is specified by the following partial objectives: identifying what types of Big Data to analyse in connection with the athletes’ education; revealing what AI tools to include in the athletes’ education for their better preparation for a career after sports; determining what knowledge of AI and Big Data athletes need to stay relevant once they enter the labour market. Our study combines secondary and primary data sources. The secondary data (used in the orientation analysis) include case studies on AI and Big Data connected to education. The primary data were collected via a survey performed on over 200 Slovak junior athletes. The results show directions for the sports policymakers and sports organisations’ managers willing to improve their athletes’ career prospects.

Sport is an integral part of modern people’s lives. However, it is also an important business area requiring specific management approaches. This article focuses on the issues of sports management and human capital. The main goal was to analyse the influence of domestic and foreign athletes playing football in teams in the best national leagues on the success in national and international competitions (UEFA Euro, FIFA World Cup). The analysis was based on panel data from five selected countries (England, Germany, Italy, Spain, and France) in the seasons from 2009/10 to 2018/19. The research sample included 980 football teams. The hypotheses were focused on the impact of the percentage of domestic and foreign athletes and their presence in the matches on the success of the clubs and teams in the selected competitions. These were tested using a statistical algorithm including the Pooled linear regression model, Fixed effects models, Random effects models, and the ANOVA test. Main findings confirmed that if there is an effort to have more domestic players on the rosters, this has a positive effect on the success in the national league. They also revealed that the clubs and teams use the proportion of domestic and foreign athletes and their deployment in the matches as a crucial decision within the human capital management. The study draws the conclusion that clubs and associations should create opportunities for the domestic athletes in the matches to support their growth with positive effects on sport success, national pride, and fans’ satisfaction. JEL Classification: C12, Z2, L83, O52, O15, C23.

Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues is a peer-reviewed journal which publishes original research papers and case studies