What is a sports club?
A sports club is a private non-profit association, with legal personality and capacity to act to fulfil its purposes, whose exclusive purpose is the promotion or practice of one or more sports by its members and participation in activities or competitions within the federated sphere.
In short, these are people who decide to form a group focused on practicing one or more sports. Not all sports clubs are the same and therefore will have their differences.
Although you are probably also interested in knowing other basic questions about sports clubs and not just sticking to what a sports club is. For this reason, we have compiled a list of the most common questions that exist about sports clubs. Such as what the objective of a sports club is or what types of sports clubs exist.
It is not only important to know what a sports club is but also to know what differences there are between them:
- They participate in official competitions and/or carry out recreational and leisure activities.
- Partners play together and/or individually.
- Paid or unpaid.
- They compete against clubs of the same size and/or at a professional level.
- Presence of spectators, whether small or large.
- One or more sports practices.
What is the objective of a sports club?
The objective of a sports club is to promote and encourage the development of one or more sports practices by the club’s members, both in recreational activities and in official tournaments. It aims to promote the values of sport. And create a community that breathes social cohesion and transmits solidarity values.
Sports clubs are part of the large group of entities that make up the Third Sector. The Third Sector includes all those private and non-profit entities that carry out social action projects, achieving a more just, inclusive and cohesive society. Sports are one of the preferred tools when it comes to promoting social actions. Charitable sporting events are a good example.
Sports clubs promote values such as solidarity, equal opportunities and social inclusion through sporting activities, which help combat social inequalities by improving the social fabric of communities.
But as always there is an exception to the rule and in this case it is the Sports Public Limited Companies (SAD) whose main objective is profit-making, that is, obtaining benefits. This does not mean that these sports clubs cannot have the objectives. that we have described above, they just take a backseat. Below, we explain the 3 types of sports clubs that exist.
In recent years, there has been an increase in traditional clubs becoming Sports Public Limited Companies (SAD). This is because it is increasingly common to see sport as a form of business. So that is why many traditional sports clubs decide to take the step from non-profit entity to company. A curious fact to note is that in 2021, Spain had 76,218 federated sports clubs, of which 31,166 were football sports clubs, which is equivalent to almost 41% of all of them.
The remaining 59% would be equivalent to all other sports practices. The football industry is equivalent to 1.37% of Spain’s GDP , up to 15.688 billion euros per year, numbers that have increased twofold in the past four years as reported by PWC, one of the biggest auditing firms worldwide
What is a sports association?
The phrases “sports club” and “sports association” are frequently mixed up. Although they may seem synonymous, a sports association is different from a sports club.
Private law bodies establish sports associations as corporations or associations with a minimum number of promoting clubs or sports clubs to promote, sponsor, and organize the practice of various sports or sports modalities within the territorial scope of the department or district, as applicable. They will also promote programs of public and social interest.
The main function of sports associations is to organize and plan sporting events of different categories. Both at national and international level, together with control and development programs.
Obligations when creating your sports club
All sports clubs must fulfill certain obligations when they establish themselves:
- Register in the corresponding sports association registry. In the case of basic sports clubs, these must be in the registry of their autonomous community.
- Have a certificate of registration of sports associations.
- If you want to participate in official competitions and tournaments, you will have to be a member of the federation. To become a member of the federation, you will have to do so through the regional federations.
- The club’s statutes will have to be adapted to the national or international competitions in which it wishes to participate.
In addition, the requirements for its constitution must contain:
- Rules for registering and deregistering as a member.
- The rights and obligations of the partners.
- A democratically structured system of government.
- Establish the positions of General Assembly, President and Board of Directors.
- Disciplinary regime.
- Asset and economic-financial regime.
- Process of reforming the statutes if necessary.
- Establish a regulation in case of dissolution of the organization and the destination of the assets.
Structure of a sports club
Sports clubs are necessarily made up of three bodies, which are:
- General Assembly.
- The President or Presidentess.
- The Board of Directors (Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary and/or members).
- The structure of a sports clubis quite extensive and deserves its own blog. That’s why here is our quick guide to: What is an organizational chart of a sports club? where we explain in depth what each organ is and what functions it has.
Benefits of creating a sports club
Some of the benefits of creating a sports club are:
- Promotes the use of facilities and an active community.
- It centralises sporting disciplines or activities, promoting a meeting space and encouraging sporting practice.
- Promote cooperation and teamwork among club members.
- It offers a network of affiliation and cooperation with other clubs at municipal, provincial and regional levels.
- It provides the sport with a greater permanence of people interested in the discipline.
The 3 types of sports clubs:
The law establishes that there can be 3 types of sports clubs :
Sports Teams or Elementary Sports Clubs:
Sports Teams, formerly known as Elementary Sports Clubs, consist of individuals who have no profit motive. They create and operate organizations to engage in sports activities and events. In addition to promoting and encouraging sports. Sports Teams are also responsible for promoting their discipline in lower categories and have the option of becoming Basic Sports Clubs.
Basic Sports Club:
These are also non-profit sports associations but they have legal personality, therefore they have the capacity to act, assets, an organization and their own administration. The main difference between Basic Sports Clubs and Sports Teams is that in addition to promoting, practicing and participating in sports activities, they can participate in tournaments and competitions of the regulatory bodies or federations of those sports.
Sports Public Limited Companies:
These are created with the aim of making a profit and distributing their dividends among their shareholders. but their corporate purpose is also to participate in professional sports competitions and/or tournaments. They can also promote the development and practice of sports. These types of sports clubs are usually common in top-level sports leagues. Such as the first and second division of football, although there are always some exceptions such as Fútbol Club Barcelona, Real Madrid Fútbol Club or Athletic Fútbol Club de Bilbao, which are still Sports Teams.
What about Esports?
It makes sense that Esports or electronic sports can then be established like any other sports club. This would be the case if the sports community recognized Esports as a sporting modality, as it would greatly facilitate the management of these organizations.
Therefore, even in 2022, Esports organisations will only be able to take two forms: Limited Company (SL) and Public Limited Company (SA). Although we are still waiting for a specific constitution for Esports sports clubs, the preferred choice for incorporation has been the Limited Company. This preference arises from the fact that, in 2022, entrepreneurs can form an SL for the modest price of 1 euro of share capital (previously, it was 3000 euros), while an SA requires an entry of 60,000 euros.
How to manage a sports club?
No matter what kind of sports club you aim to establish or oversee, they all share a common challenge: the demanding job of daily administration and its members. The pandemic wreaked significant havoc in the sports world, resulting in a loss of 195,017 federated licenses across all categories between 2020 and 2021. This is why today, keeping effective management of the club and enhancing the connection with its members has become the top priority on the agenda
A method to control, consolidate, and automate the daily operations of your sports club is by employing software designed for managing sports clubs and their members. There is a broad range of software, with some leaning more towards technical features aimed at sports club players and others geared towards daily management like Berrly. Along with centralizing and automating daily activities, at Berrly we particularly shine in offering tools aimed at engaging with the community of your sports club. Members are the ultimate interest group for any sports club. They act as its financial muscle. They are the ones who shape its distinctive features and create that charismatic and special community. Berrly allows you to maintain, strengthen and foster the bond with your members. Which in the long run translates into greater retention and greater acquisition of new members.
Here are some tools that might interest you along with a quick description:
Calendar : Improve planning of training sessions, matches, competitions and events for your team and your fans. 📅
Events : with a ticket reservation system and digital ticket sales with QR code to scan them from your members’ own mobile phone. 🏆
Stadium mapping and digitization: Stadium mapping, ticket allocation with locations, season passes and seat transmission. 🏟️
Analytics and metrics for your club: Analyze your sports club’s data and get to know your members. Your fans and their behavior better to create marketing strategies. 📊
Communications : Send emails and notifications to mobile devices in real time, personalized, scheduled and even massive. 📨
Surveys and polls: Find out what your members think through surveys and polls that can be configured and programmed in the calendar and analyze the results. 📬
Marketing module: Allows you to enhance the entire product vertical related to engagement and social media metrics for sports organizations. 💬
If you are interested in learning a little more about the sports management of your club, you should know that you can try Berrly for free for 15 days without any commitment . Also, if you have any questions, you can contact us or better yet, schedule a meeting with us . We are eager to assist you and fulfill your requirements. Thank you very much for being here and see you in the next blog!