Within the past month, the biggest sporting event in the world has taken place in South Africa. For the first time, the continent of Africa has had the opportunity to organise the soccer (sorry, football) world cup.

This shows how sport is finding new markets across the globe. Asia, Africa and South America have emerged to contest broadcasting and new media rights and merchandised products. Sports marketing is no longer restricted to a rivalry between Europe and North America.

The academic world has seen a similar evolution to that of the commercial marketplace. The Journal has reached a position where it is truly international: we now receive submissions from countries across all continents.

The FIFA World Cup has also demonstrated some interesting evolutionary changes that can be considered as management lessons for us all.

First, the ‘glorious uncertainty’ of sport is still a reality: who would have expected teams from Uruguay, Ghana, Paraguay, South Korea and Japan to reach the latter rounds of the tournament? By the same token, nobody could have foreseen that France and Italy (the two 2006 finalists) would both leave the finals after the first round.

Commercial players, such as sponsors and TV broadcasters, have to live with these realities. There is never any guarantee of the result for a national team and this is the essence of the interest among sports consumers.

In the same vein, choosing appropriate players to sponsor or to endorse your products is a burning issue. The infamous Nike commercial featuring some of the tournament’s under-achievers (such as Rooney, Ronaldo and Ribéry) shows that even this sportswear giant can back the wrong horse!

Second, the first and richest sport in the world still has very little impact in North America, yet the good results of the US national team could be the starting point for strengthening the game in key territories.

Sports marketing and communication needs professionals, and that is why academics and students work towards a future to be spent in the ‘real’ world of practitioners. But when you see 99% of financial resources focused on the players, and not on what is happening beyond the pitch, the ‘disaster’ of the French national team demonstrates what can happen through a lack of management and communication in a period of crisis. The team did poorly on the pitch but this reflected a poor performance off the pitch through a player ‘strike’ (they refused to practice!).

The lesson to be drawn perhaps is that an association structure is not an adequate governance model for an organisation that has a budget of several hundred million euros.

Of course, each event is also a case study, and the events of this world cup represent another good opportunity for academics to apply their theoretical work. We look forward to receiving your proposals in the weeks ahead.

Professor Michel Desbordes, Editor