Association football Wettkampf- und Verbandsmanagement

In association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a sports club that acts as an entity through which association football teams organise their sporting activities. The club can exist either as an independent unit or as part of a larger sports organization as a subsidiary of the parent club or organization.

The sport of association football allows teams that partake in some sort of club activity to participate in tournaments such as leagues and other competitions. Teams must register their players as well as staff and other personnel to be eligible to represent the club in any activity as it regards to association football competitions.

In association football terminology, competitions are referred to as "club competitions". Supporters may also acquire membership rights within their club. Even sponsors may be accounted for as members of the club of affiliation. This is a reason as to why the sport came to be called association football. The exact requirements for club licensing are regulated by FIFA and implemented on a national level within each national member association.

The majority of association football clubs take part in a league system. These league systems are governed on a continental level by the six regional FIFA confederations. Football clubs exist all over the world on amateur, semi-professional or professional levels of the game. They can be owned by members as well as business entities.

Football clubs have been in practice since the 19th century, with the existence of clubs dating back to the 1850s. During the early 1860s, there were increasing attempts in England to unify and reconcile the various football games that were played in the public schools as well in the industrial north under the Sheffield Rules. Working class, industrial cities all over the U.K. began forming their own Football Associations in the late 1800s, from the Scottish Football Association in 1873 to Lancashire FA in 1878. Teams still in existence began popping up, some with the help of the Church; for example, Aston Villa was founded in 1874, Wolverhampton Wanderers in 1877, Bolton Wanderers in 1874 and Everton in 1878.

Due to the scope and popularity of the sport, professional football clubs carry a significant commercial existence, with fans expecting personal service and interactivity, and external stakeholders viewing the field of professional football as a source of significant business advantages. For this reason, expensive player transfers have become an expectable part of the sport. Awards are also handed out to managers or coaches on a yearly basis for excellent performances.

The designs, logos and names of professional football clubs are often licensed trademarks. The difference between a football team and a (professional) football club is incorporation. A football club is an entity which is formed and governed by a committee and has members which may consist of supporters in addition to players.

A consequence of the FIFA rules and regulations for association football clubs is that players are not allowed to be owned by any legal entity other than the clubs themselves. This means that the involvement of external investors in acquiring players for the club must only involve the eventual transfer of the rights to the contract of the player in question, and not the contract itself.

Professional football clubs often separate their traditional member-association roots from commercial operations through distinct legal forms. In many European leagues, the original club (a not-for-profit member association) retains influence over the professional team, which is operated via a limited-liability company to facilitate investment and compliance with licensing rules.

A prominent example is Germany's 50+1 rule, introduced by the Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL) in 1998. Under this regulation, the parent club (typically an eingetragener Verein or registered member association) must hold at least 50% plus one vote in the professional football company (such as a GmbH or AG), ensuring members retain democratic majority control. This prevents external investors from dominating decisions and has been credited with supporting lower debt levels, affordable ticket prices, and high attendances relative to other leagues. Limited exceptions exist for clubs with pre-existing corporate ties (e.g., Bayer Leverkusen and VfL Wolfsburg) or long-term investors meeting specific criteria.

In Spain, Law 10/1990 on Sport required most professional clubs to convert from member associations into Sociedades Anónimas Deportivas (SADs)—public limited sports companies—to enhance financial transparency and management. Exceptions remain for longstanding member-owned clubs such as Real Madrid and FC Barcelona.

In Saudi Arabia, as there is no income tax on earnings from employment in football teams, players do not suffer these charges.

By comparison, most English professional clubs operate directly as private companies limited by shares, often owned by private investors or holding companies, with the Premier League itself owned collectively by its 20 member clubs. These variations are subject to national licensing requirements under FIFA's Club Licensing Regulations, which emphasize governance, financial stability, and legal entity clarity regardless of ownership model.

There are several professional football clubs that are publicly traded. Normally, football clubs are not run with the intent of profit maximization, as its sports outcomes are considered more important than its financial outcomes by its ownership. In addition, financial regulations as, for example, UEFA Financial Fair Play may also limit what a club is and is not allowed to do with their spending and capital holdings.

The capital structure of a football club most closely resembles that of a nonprofit corporation, although it may still be profitable per se to its investors. A practical example is the fact that