Sports governance and football club performance

We examine the impact of three dimensions of governance regulations introduced by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Sport on the on-field performance of football clubs in the 240 matches of the 2021/22 Saudi Pro League season. We find that those a spects of governance that have reputational value such as the rules related to marketing activities and events and social responsibility improve the on-field performance of football clubs. Conversely, the “culture shock” induced by the management dimensions of the regulations negatively affects on-field performance. The negative impact of this culture shock on our performance variable is consistently significant. This finding highlights the importance of managing the culture shock aspect of corporate governance, which is often overlooked. It also suggests that new governance regulations should be implemented carefully, with attention to the methods of adaptation and confidence building.