Presidents’ President: Erdoğan-Centred Crony Capitalism and Football Governance in Turkey

Abstract

This study seeks to investigate evidence of cronyism within the intricate network of individuals and entities involved in Turkey’s football industry, spanning financial, political, and football-related actors. Employing Social Network Analysis (SNA) as its primary methodology, our research aims to visually depict this network’s cronyism and provide comprehensive contextual information to enable sociological interpretations of the relationships among these actors. Our findings shed light on the complex entanglement of football management with various networks in Turkey, highlighting that these crony connections obscure the boundary between government and business, resulting in covert political manipulation of the football sector. This interference erodes football management’s autonomy through consistent autocratic regulations favouring crony business networks and indirectly violates international governance principles. Our research underscores that comprehending a football environment intertwined with business and politics requires acknowledging the extensive presence of crony capitalism and the necessity for transparency and autonomy within the football industry. © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.