Framtiden på dagordningen : En studie av föreningars upplevelse av Svenska fotbollförbundets föreningsutvecklingskoncept Diplomerad Förening

Sammanfattning: With basis in the Swedish Sport Federations strategic document Strategi 2025 the Swedish Football Association developed a concept called Diplomerad förening to offer a development concept for all football clubs. The concept is intended to contribute to a structure and a framework for clubs to work with their overall development and is the first of its kind. On this basis, and due to the fact that research points out that implementation of top-down policies on grass-roots level may be challenging for local sports clubs, this study has the following objective: The object of this study is to illustrate how clubs that has participated in and/or has finished the work with the Swedish Football Associations club development concept Diplomerad förening experienced the process and how the implementation and completion has affected the club’s operations. This will be illustrated through the following research questions: 1. How does the clubs experience the process and implementation of Diplomerad förening? 2. How does the clubs deem that the implementation and eventual completion of Diplomerad förening has affected their operations? The starting point to answer the research questions lies in the material which was collected through a survey and nine semi structured interviews. The survey was sent to all clubs that in some way had started the process Diplomerad förening and through the survey a selection of nine club representatives was chosen for the interviews. The material was analyzed through three theories, translation, outside-in and isomorphism. Translation says that analysis of implementation in sports clubs most consider that there first must be a translation of elements from higher up in the hierarchy. Outside-in wants the analysis not just to look at the club but also the context in which the club operates. Isomorphism takes the starting point in that all organizations are subjected to change forcing them to resemble other organizations that face the same environmental conditions.  The analysis of the empirical data show there is a general positive experience of the concept Diplomerad förening, not least regarding its potential. Clubs also experienced the need for a clearer introduction to the concept and the support from RF-SISU and the Special Sport District Federations together with more templates and flexibility. Furthermore, the concept is considered positive affecting the clubs by bringing structure and order. There is nevertheless a difference between the clubs in how well the actual implementation of the concept has gone.