Broadening the horizons of intellectual capital disclosure to the sports industry: evidence from top UEFA clubs

Purpose The football industry presents a unique setting for intellectual capital analysis. This study aims to investigate the online intellectual capital disclosure level of top football clubs and to analyse the impact of some explanatory factors on the level of information provided. Design/methodology/approach The authors use manual content analysis of the websites to measure intellectual capital disclosure levels along with a regression analysis on a sample of the 80 football clubs that qualified for the group stages of the 2019-20 UEFA Champions and Europa League. Findings Empirical results reveal that football clubs disclose a limited amount of information regarding intangibles on their websites. In addition, they show that sports performance, technical market value and social media visibility have a positive effect on the disclosure level. Originality/value This study extends the horizon of intellectual capital disclosure to a sector (football) that is currently under-explored and broadens the list of antecedents of the intellectual capital disclosure level.