Research-Thesis: L'impact des démarches RSE sur l'attractivité des clubs de football professionnel auprès des sponsors/partenaires: le cas du Standard de Liège.

Abstract

This thesis explores the strategic role of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in professional football to understand to what extent CSR practices influence a club's attractiveness to sponsors. A qualitative approach was adopted, combining semi-structured interviews and questionnaires with internal stakeholders of Standard de Liège (CSR managers, sporting director, communication officer, ticketing manager) and external partners (VOO, Darcis Chocolatier, Gaming1, Sobelvin, Eloy). The results show that CSR improves the club's image and reputation but does not generate new partnerships on its own. The most receptive sponsors are those who already have an integrated CSR culture. For more traditional partners such as Darcis, interest remains conditional on concrete and visible actions. The study also reveals that the commercial department acts as the key promoter of CSR. Without its initiative, CSR efforts remain largely invisible to partners. The lack of impact measurement tools emerges as the central weakness what cannot be measured cannot be sold. This finding is reinforced by the context of the Belgian sponsorship market, which is under structural pressure following the DAZN crisis and the withdrawal of sports betting sponsors. These results align with Fombrun's (1996) framework, which considers reputation as an asset of influence rather than of activation. Nevertheless, Liverpool FC stands as the benchmark, demonstrating that when impact is clearly measured and communicated, CSR becomes a genuine commercial argument. This work confirms that the link between CSR and sponsorship in Belgian football is real but still insufficiently significant. It also highlights the need to develop adapted measurement tools and to further involve the Pro League as a structuring actor.