Sports Research Experts 

The evening workshop, lasting for two hours in total, was held by Martin Carlsson Wall, Director of The Center for Sports & Business and Associate Professor at the Department of Accounting, and Fanny Almersson, PhD Student at the Department of Accounting. Fanny is currently conducting her PhD project on Hammarby Fotboll, its diversity and inclusion initiatives, and the merger of the men's and women's football teams. 

Women Football Leading the Way 

First, Carlsson Wall gave a broad overview of current developments regarding female sports, such as the Swedish women's football league's audience record on October 10th, 2021, the fact that the three most attended football games in 2022 were women's football games (UEFA Women's Championship between England - Germany and two games by the female football team of FC Barcelona). He also discussed the importance of FC Barcelona consisting of both a male and female football team in light of the sponsorship deal with Spotify. 

Hammarby Fotboll's Development Journey

Next, Fanny Almersson shared insights from her research project she is conducting in collaboration with Hammarby Fotboll. She talked about the development journey Hammarby Fotboll is undergoing, the investments in facilities with questions ranging from the gym, audience capacity, coaching spaces and locker rooms to the closeness to the men's team and the academy; or if the money should instead be spent on better players. 

Almersson also highlighted some other initiatives for diversity and inclusion that Hammarby Footboll is conducting, such as the society game (school visits, free tickets to games for young students and free Saturday football in certain areas of Stockholm) as well as the Vega Project (temporary housing for players struggling to find housing in Stockholm, African players, academy players, different social background and the question of priority). 

Finally, she also talked about the specific managers at Hammarby that are driving the diversity and inclusion initiatives. 

Sports & Business Executive as Guest

During the evening workshop we were also joined by Sophie Wachtmeister. Sophie has an interesting career having both worked for many years at the TV4 Group, among others as Head of Sponsorship, and as Commercial Chief at the Swedish Hockey League. Currently, she is the Founder and Chief Commercial Officer of GRINTEST Sports Club and Sports Tech AB, investing and creating modern sport platforms for the individual development of athletes. 

Workshop and Interactive Format

The presentations by Carlsson Wall and Almersson were complemented by curious questions and insights from students which sparked further discussions during the evening. Once the workshop was finished, the evening continued with a mingle of both students, researchers, guests and members of the Center for Sports & Business.