Internet marketing in football clubs: A comparison between English and Greek websites

Worldwide use of the Internet by business and commerce has recently increased dramatically. Indeed, many commentators now claim that the Internet is leading to a new period in marketing. Sports, and especially football clubs which have become increasingly commercial in recent times, have not been unassailable to such rapid developments and they utilize the Internet as a marketing medium through which clubs can communicate with supporters, establish relationships with them and sell products and services. The purpose of this essay is to examine website content of the football clubs of two leagues (English and Greek) from a marketing perspective. Initially, it examines the growing body of literature in the area of sports marketing, Internet marketing and football clubs. This leads to the detailed examination, from the perspective of marketing, of 12 websites (six from UK football clubs and six from Greek football clubs). Finally, an attempt has been made to make a comparison between the two leagues. The authors found that there are many differences between the two leagues' websites. The Greek websites are lagging far behind the UK ones, the former being poorly developed, unsophisticated and lacking strong links with the marketing activities that the Internet can offer. On the contrary, the UK websites are more sophisticated than the Greek websites and have better developed the marketing opportunities that the Internet offers, although however, there are some crucial issues that they too have failed to address.