BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS WITH VOSVIEWER: RESEARCH TRENDS IN SPORT MANAGEMENT WITHIN EUROPEAN FOOTBALL

Sport management is a rapidly expanding field of study that produces a growing body of academic literature. Using bibliometric analysis, data from the Web of Science database and VOSviewer software, this paper attempts to provide a general overview of the field and highlights the consensus among academics. The analysis found that Web of Science published 156 unique articles. It also seeks to pinpoint the key subjects that brought together the research on European football sport management, as well as the most important clusters and emerging trends of study in this field. The multidisciplinary nature of the topic is reflected in the Web of Science categories associated with the articles: Hospitality, Leisure, Sport, Tourism, followed by Management. The following subject areas registered, also, significant results in terms of number of articles: Sport Sciences, Business and Economics. In considering publishers, the highest number of articles were released under the auspices of Taylor & Francis, Emerald, MDPI, Elsevier and Sage. From a practical perspective, the study helps sport managers become more situational aware by emphasizing the critical issues and assisting them in identifying research gaps for further academic exploration. This closes the feedback loop between theory and practice.