ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Sports Politics, Policy and Law
This article is part of the Research TopicSports Policy and Management in the Era of Sustainable Development Goals: Challenges and OpportunitiesView all 15 articles
Tennis club governance: An international comparison of Southern European clubs
Provisionally accepted
- 1National Institute of Physical Education of Catalonia, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- 2Institut Nacional d'Educacio Fisica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
- 3International Tennis Federation, London, United Kingdom
- 4Universitat de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
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Tennis is one of the world's most practiced racket sports, with clubs serving as the main venues for participation, training, and community engagement. Despite their importance, research on the governance of tennis clubs remains scarce. This study provides an international comparison of governance practices in 30 tennis clubs across Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Malta. Using a validated governance assessment model grounded in the principles of democracy and participation, ethics and integrity, and accountability and transparency, clubs were clustered into four governance types through k-means analysis. Key governance indicators included board diversity, stakeholder involvement, president turnover, document transparency, and decision-making structures. Findings revealed marked differences among clubs, with some exhibiting balanced and participatory governance, while others showed restricted and opaque practices. Notably, clubs with more independent board members experienced greater leadership turnover, and those with higher financial transparency tended to disclose more governance documents. Conversely, gender equality metrics showed minimal correlation with other governance indicators. The study highlights the need for enhanced inclusivity, structured oversight, and transparency in club governance. Results offer valuable insights for club managers, federations, and policymakers seeking to professionalize governance in sports organizations. Further research is encouraged to explore governance variations across club types, regions, and socio-economic contexts, and to develop longitudinal strategies for inclusive and sustainable governance practices in tennis.
Keywords: Racket sports, Sports policies, Club development, sport organization, Management
Received: 08 Sep 2025; Accepted: 27 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Solanellas, MUÑOZ, Crespo and Martínez-Gallego. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: JOSHUA MUÑOZ, joshuamunoz@gencat.cat
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