SPORTS MARKETING IN CROATIAN FOOTBALL CLUB RIJEKA

Certain sports have become highly ranked on the scale of interest in today`s society due to popularization of competitive sports. Football occupies a very special place among modern popular competitive sports. One of the many reasons of such popularity is certainly it`s financial nature. It is widely known that huge funds are invested in football clubs and their respective players that can reach notably high prices on the player markets. Marketing plays an important role in the football world, without a doubt. Although Sports marketing is essentialy no different than marketing of any other business on the market, there are some differences that can be observed in individual elements of the marketing mix. With before mentioned in mind, sport products have a very large range of possibilities to meet the needs of consumers themselves. This paper examines CFC Rijeka whose impressive results in terms of sport achievements, and without additional investments in marketing, are not sufficient enough for obtaining positive business results. Satisfying business results can only be expected by investing financial resources and by implementing a specificaly selected marketing strategy. There are numerous forms of financing the FC Rijeka right now, but the longterm goal is to be a self-financing football club on a higher level than now. Because of this objective, marketing activities of the club are focused on a form of promotion that result in increased financial resources induced through fandom, fans and the public in general.