Focus on soccer, handball, and volleyball: Individual studies examine the challenges in amateur sports

In these sport-specific studies, SPM and FanQ aim to jointly demonstrate how amateur soccer, handball, and volleyball have weathered the crisis-ridden years. Is one sport faring better than another? What issues are of particular concern to participants? And how can these problems be solved?

As was the case with the multi-sport study, this project once again involved close collaboration with Prof. Dr. Axel Faix (Dortmund University of Applied Sciences, Department of Economics) and Prof. Dr. Harald Lange (Institute of Sports Science at the University of Würzburg), both of whom serve on FanQ’s Scientific Advisory Board.

Regardless of whether the participants play soccer, handball, or volleyball, over 90% of those surveyed stated that the sport they play is an important or very important part of their lives. The respondents also agreed that the social aspect (~86%) is the biggest motivation for playing their sport.

However, as was already evident in the comprehensive, cross-sport study, volunteerism also comes to the forefront when breaking down the data by sport. The participants agreed that volunteer engagement within their respective sports currently poses the greatest challenge. When we take a closer look at volunteer involvement in the club and compare the three sports, it becomes clear that volleyball comes out on top. While over 40% of those surveyed in handball and soccer reported that the number of volunteers had declined, volleyball still posted the best result, with a comparatively “mere” 34.1% decline.

With regard to the second-biggest challenge, further differences can be observed among the sports. While both soccer and volleyball players view improving their financial situation as another major challenge, handball players ranked the decline in membership as their second-biggest challenge. In volleyball, only 22.9% of respondents believe that membership numbers have declined, while the figures for soccer (26.9%) and handball (33.4%) are, in some cases, significantly higher. This is consistent with the fact that only 26.6% of handball players report that membership in their club has increased (soccer: 30.6%, volleyball: 41.1%).