Discovering Athlete Brand DNA with Generation Z

Home , Ander Herrera, Ona Carbonell

Escola Universitària d’Enginyeria Tècnica de Telecomunicació La Salle

Final Thesis

Graduate in Management of Business and Technology

Student Promoter

Víctor Cortés Solé Christopher Kennett

ACTA DE L'EXAMEN DEL TREBALL FI DE GRAU

Meeting of the evaluating panel on this day, the student:

D. Víctor Cortés Solé

Presented their final thesis on the following subject:

Discovering Athlete Brand DNA with Generation Z

At the end of the presentation and upon answering the questions of the members of the panel, this thesis was awarded the following grade:

Barcelona,

MEMBER OF THE PANEL MEMBER OF THE PANEL

PRESIDENT OF THE PANEL

Acknowledgments

I would like to express my gratitude to my promoter, Christopher Kennett, for his guidance, dedication, time and support during all this time on this project. I would also like to thank all the people that participated in the project, specially to Francesc Valdivieso, Xavier Lucas and all the participants of the focus groups. Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for their support and help during all this time. I would also like to thank Salle University and its professors for the education I have been able to receive.

Abstract

This thesis proposes a new model for the personal brands of the different athletes with those adaptations necessary to maximize visibility and income for new generations, specifically, with the "Generation Z". The study contains a literature review which tries to understand the current models that follow the personal marks of athletes to understand the necessary points for improvement. Another objective was to obtain the maximum information from the "Generation Z" in order to adapt it to the proposed model. To be able to develop the new personal brand model for athletes to obtain maximum visibility and income of the "Generation Z" people, have been developed different focus groups with participants belonging to the "Generation Z" to obtain information and opinion about different athletes and their personal brands and also through interviews with relevant people for the project to know the opinion of different professionals. All this has made it possible to propose a new model for the personal branding for athletes with the aim of people belonging to "Generation Z".

Executive Summary

The aim of this thesis is to propose a new model for the personal brand of athletes adapted to the new demands that the generation has and that influence when they consume anything. This generation will change many things that were established until now or that on the contrary had not been raised. For this reason, there is a need to propose a new model that maximizes the visualization and income of athletes. In order to develop the thesis, it has first been necessary to gather information on how the current models of the personal brands of athletes work and how they evolve. Also, to know the general tendencies that those belonging to the "Z generation" can have. After that, in order to know even more deeply, different methods were carried out to know the opinion of people belonging to the "Z generation" about different sportsmen and their personal brands in order to know which are the important points specifically for them and the points for improvement. The other method used were interviews with relevant people for the thesis who could give their personal and professional opinion about the current models and the future to be even more accurate and close information. Once we had all that information, a new model is described with similar and improved aspects of the current models but also completely new points that until now had not been evaluated due to the requirements up to now had. a new model is described with similar and improved aspects of the current models but also completely new points that until now had not been evaluated due to the requirements up to now had.

Table of contents Acknowledgements ...... 1 Abstract ...... 2 Executive Summary ...... 3 Table of contents ...... 4 List of Tables and Figures ...... 5

1. Introduction ...... 6 2. Research Question and Objectives ...... 7 3. Literature Review ...... 8 3.1 Introduction ...... 8 3.2 How do athletes become brands? ...... 9 3.3 How is brand value measured? ...... 10 3.4 What do recent studies tell us about branding athletes? ...... 11 3.5 What we know about the changing nature of generation Z fans and how they perceive brand values of an athlete? ...... 12 4. Methodology ...... 13 4.1 Qualitative Research ...... 13 4.1.1 Focus Groups ...... 13 4.1.2 Interviews ...... 15 5. Data Analysis ...... 16 5.1 Scorecards ...... 18 5.2 Scorecards Analysis ...... 30 6. Proposed Model ...... 31 7. Conclusions ...... 37 8. Bibliography ...... 39 9. Appendix ...... 43 Appendix A ...... 43 Appendix B ...... 48 Appendix C ...... 52 Appendix D ...... 56 Appendix E ...... 61 Appendix F ...... 65 Appendix G ...... 67 8.690 words

List of Tables and Figures

Figures Figure 1: Proposed Model……………………………………………………………31

Tables Table 1: Aggregate value top 10 brands in each category versus stocks……………...8 Table 2: Social Networks Athletes…………………………………………………...10

Table 3: Definitions of athlete brand image dimension……………………………11 Table 4: Cristiano Ronaldo Scorecard………………………………………………..18 Table 5: Leo Messi Scorecard………………………………………………………..19 Table 6: Ivan Rakitic Scorecard…………………………...…………..……………..20 Table 7: Neymar Jr Scorecard………………………………………………………..21 Table 8: Ander Herrera Scorecard…………………………….……………………..22 Table 9: Garbiñe Muguruza Scorecard………………………..……………………..23 Table 10: Mireia Belmonte Scorecard……………………………………...………..24 Table 11: Ona Carbonell Scorecard………………………………………...………..25 Table 12: Fernando Alonso Scorecard…………………………………...…………..26 Table 13: Rafa Nadal Scorecard……………………………………………………..27 Table 14: Pau Gasol Scorecard………………………………………………..……..28 Table 15: Marc Marquez Scorecard……………………………………...…………..29

1. Introduction

In recent years, sport and everything that involves sport has grown a lot economically, that according to a recent A.T. Kearney study it achieves a value of €450 billion. But according to Mike Ozanian, Forbes (2017), one of the areas that has grown less than the others, which is the personal branding of athletes. Considering the fast growth and dramatic changes that have occurred in the sports industry, there is a need to consider new models for the personal branding of athletes that is aligned with a new generation of fans. The study will focus on Generation Z as the next generation of sports fans that represent a change from their predecessors, the (late) Millennials. With the study of the current models of the athletes' personal brands and the possible modifications adapted to the requirements of the "Z generation" a model will be proposed to maximize the visibility and income of the athletes. My passion for sport, and the interest I have in the professional representation of players and how athletes sell their personal brands to try to promote their image and the products and brands with which they are related, have been the reasons for choosing this topic for my thesis study.

2. Research Question and Objectives

Research Question: How will be the fans of the future, specifically the generation Z?

Research Objectives: - Understand the existing models of personal brands. - Determine the key elements of brand DNA for elite athletes. - Understand the changing profile of generation Z sports fans and their perceptions of elite athletes. - Propose a new model to improve the personal branding of elite athletes.

3. Literature review

3.1 Introduction

Nowadays athletes are not considered only as athletes, according to Akiko Arai, Yong Jae Ko and Stephen Ross (2014), they are considered as a way to engage with the people, with their fans, a social sign. Much of the income that athletes have today comes from selling their personal image to different brands and business. Athletes, are selling their personality and image on and off the field what the public is perceiving of him. That’s why sports agencies help athletes to maximize their potential earnings and build strong personal brands with the values they want to represent. We have seen many different types of brands during the history, some of them following totally opposite strategies, but achieving great results many of them. It not exists a rule for the creation of a brand of an athlete, but in order to create the personal brand of an athlete exist some similarities in order to achieve the goals and have the necessary success for the brand of the athlete. According to Mike Ozanian (Forbes), in recent years the sport has grown a lot in terms of income but as we can see in the table below, if we put together the 10 most powerful brands of each of the parties involved in the sport, the brands of athletes are those that have grown the least in relative and absolute terms with a wide difference, so there's still a point of improvement.

The Forbes Fab 40 Scores Aggregate value of top 10 brands in each category versus stocks. Category 2007 2017 % change Athletes $162 mil $210 mil 30 Businesses $23,250 mil $70,450 mil 203 Events $1,127 mil $2,644 mil 135 Teams $2,031 mil $5,728 mil 182 Table 1: Aggregate value top 10 brands in each category versus stocks (Source: Forbes) In this study of Forbes the brand value of athletes is calculated by their earnings excluding the salary and bonus from their sport, minus the average income of the top 10 athletes in the same sport. Athletes are the protagonists of the sport, they are those who have more visibility within the spectacle, that is why there is still a great improvement within the sector and also requires a change of strategy more professional and adaptable to what the new generations demand, to maximize the benefits and visibility of athletes, as there is still a great space for the improvement.

3.2 How do athletes become brands? According to Akiko Arai, Yong Jae Ko and Stephen Ross (2014), athletes are considered not only as vehicles for advertisements or product endorsement, but also as cultural products that can be sold as ‘‘brands’’. This means that at the end, people feel identified with athletes, their life’s and what they are trying to represent. Athletes start selling their personal image since they are born. At the beginning, as it is normal they develop their life’s as a normal person, but from the very beginning their actions can be take in account for their futures personal brands. According to Antoine Jolicoeur Desroches, if you are an athlete, you are your own brand. So, for them each athlete have their own brand no longer importing at what level you may be playing or a large number of follow-ups or merchandising sales. This means that even if an athlete does not want to have a personal brand of his own, he will have his own brand although it may not be marketable, it depends on the strategy he can make use of. What it needs to take in account also is the many types of athlete brands during the history that have been developed. The personal images of athletes are completely different and depending on the different generations existing at that moment. According to according to Julie Frank of Navigation Research (2014), “sports fans that see a brand message on social media are 78% more likely to have a positive perception of them. So brands are experimenting with the best approach to reach them through social channels.” This trend it has been increasing during the last years and it continues increasing due to the new generations that are constantly using different social media diary. This consequence describe how important is for an athlete their antecedents to have a good image on and off the field, both factors are important. During the years these antecedents have change due to the change of likes that fans suffer. For example, we can see that two different athletes of different eras have change their strategies radically. Michael Jordan, one of the most famous basketball players don’t have a particular social account, what is a completely different strategy of what Cristiano Ronaldo do, that have an account in Instagram with more than 145 million people (most followed account) following him. This is a clear example of the change of generation that has occurred during the last years, and how athletes have adapted their strategies to what the fans use and want. That problem will exist always, and now is time to discover more about “generation Z”, that is the following generation that is arriving, that it will have different preferences and to which athletes will have to adapt to remain at the forefront of millions of people. At the end, athletes are selling their personal image to millions of fans, and they sell what they are, taking in account different strategies to be able to arrive to all of them in an attractive way. Over the years, this image is progressively modified from the type of image that the athlete has decided to sell from the beginning and according to the personality of the same.

3.3 How is brand value measured? There are many ways to measure the value of the brand of an athlete. There is no a unique system that measure that value of a personal brand. People will measure that value depending on what are they searching, and which are their objectives. According to Mark J. Burns of Forbes (2014), as the sports business industry’s first social media intelligence platform, MVP index assesses the digital brand value of athletes, teams and leagues using social media as a real-time measurement tool. Almost all athletes have accounts in the different social networks. Is one of the key points for the personal brands nowadays, due to the great number of fans that follow that type of accounts around the world. Not only is observed what is the number of followers that can have an athlete, also the number of responses that show fans to their publications, the number of likes, and many other points that are studied depending on what is looking to teach, and that strategy has followed the athlete. In the end, this strategy generates income for the athlete and also for the brands that sponsor the athlete who are very large, and transform their social networks into very powerful media and advertising due to the large number of followers they have. Below we can see a table with some examples that show the data generated with social networks some of the best athletes:

Athlete Total Sponsor Average Total Average Followers Branded Interactions Per Earned Value Per (mil) Posts Promoted Post Media Value Post ($) ($mil) Cristiano Ronaldo 276.7 580 1,158,550 $935.7 $1,613,309 Neymar 164.7 255 427,230 124.5 488,411 Usain Bolt 31.1 194 281,839 68.1 351,013 Gareth Bale 70.4 163 298,905 65.1 399,400 Lionel Messi 163.7 146 300,269 55.9 383,150 James Rodriguez 76.2 109 320,927 43.4 398,049 Zlatan Ibrahimovic 56.6 68 371,916 32.7 481,213 Virat Kohli 64.8 62 344,929 31.1 501,800 Lebron James 90.1 65 252,325 17.4 267,394 Conor McGregor 22.9 79 157,332 15.5 196,074 Table 2: Social Networks Athletes (Source: Forbes) Another point of measurement can be the sale of merchandising. According to Ted Church (2017), Brand merchandise has always been an impactful and integral part of sponsorship and promotions. This is a less reliable point because it not only depends on the image that the athlete can have, since in many cases, also it is part of organizations/clubs that cannot be controlled by the athlete, also is no longer an independent meter due to the price that may come to have the product that can buy the fan and the access that may have to this. Whilst this is a good barometer of the popularity that an athlete can have, but this has to be accompanied by many other factors, since what can be shown on social networks can be the end result of many other important points that an athlete must keep in mind, as

10 starring in acts of charity or promoting brands that can help to grow as an emblematic character to the athlete and to follow a philosophy similar to the one that the athlete wants to show. 3.4 What do recent studies tell us about branding athletes? Athlete brands are a representation of the personality of the different athletes and what they want to show to the public about themselves. According to Josh Hoffman (IABM), products can only survive with new brand thinking, where there are at least three innovative branding strategies that we consider critical:  Transform the very character of the sports product itself.  Capitalize on brand forming moments.  Become both a content provider and media distributor. Nowadays they are different types of brands, and each of them have their particularities about the strategies to follow. Here we have a list of the different types of brand image ways that nowadays athletes are using to sell themselves. According to Akiko Arai, Yong Jae Ko and Stephen Ross (2014), that model is based in the description of three different dimensions which are the ones that comprise the branding model. The three dimensions are:

 Athletic performance  Attractive appearance  Marketable lifestyle All these are the factors that must be taken into account in order to be successful as a personal brand of an athlete, although in this case it does not indicate that any of these factors have more weight each other, and inside each area we can find different perceptions.

Table 3: Definitions of athlete brand image dimension (Source: Researchgate)

The degree of specialization is increasing in order to be more successful in the target in which the athlete is concentrated. In a few years, these athletes and their marketing representatives will have to focus on " generation Z" as the future sports consumers. Recent studies, also tell us about the constant changes of all technological changes and new fashions to athletes be able to not lose the opportunity to have more fan engagement from their followers.

3.5 What we know about the changing nature of generation Z fans and how they perceive brand values of an a athlete? Generation Z refers to people born between 1994 and 2010. This is a generation that was born after the popularization of the internet and the creation of the World Wide Web (Internet 1.0). It is a generation that due to its tastes and ways of thinking has already changed general aspects of society and that it will continue with a greater transformation, with technology as the protagonist of its life.

According to Monica Anderson and Jingjing Jiang of Navigation Research (2018), YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat are the most popular online platforms among Gen Z, with 95% of teens having access to a smartphone, and 45% say they are online 'almost constantly'. There are many studies that support the great change that exists between the generation before Z and this one. One example is the large number of brands that young people who belong to Generation Z do not buy and that later generations love. This change may be normal, but not in the radical way that exists with this generation.

According to Afdhel Aziz of Forbes (2018), with this generation estimated to reach around 2.56 billion by 2020, and currently accounting for around $860 billion in direct spend a year, more important is how they can also influence indirect spend by influencing purchase decisions made by their parents. These numbers give us an idea of how important these generations are nowadays and the large volume of sales they can generate. Athletes will have to adapt to the new generation to continue attracting fans. Different referees of football, for example, Gerard Piqué has said that football will have to make different changes in the game to continue attracting generation Z, like the reduction of time of the game. Otherwise it would end up being a sport that will lose interest due to its long duration and usually to the low number of goals that a football match can have around the world. Besides that, the way they consume the sport it has also changed since they do not follow sports in the traditional way as it was a few years ago (Television and radio), they consume sports differently either by computer or directly from the mobile. That's why big TVs have tended to open digital platforms to offer that option to the younger ones in general, and companies that were not related to the world of sports such as Facebook, Twitter and Amazon have started with different tests to open new business routes focused on this type of products.

4. Methodology

This study analyses how Generation Z deconstructs athlete identity and tries to understand the different methods that exists nowadays to measure this. The outcome is an attempt to define a new model for branding athletes for Gen Z. Most existing athlete branding models use mainly quantitative methods to determine the brand value of athletes. This study adopts a different but complementary approach based on a qualitative methodology.

4.1 Qualitative Research It has been decided to use a multi-method approach, to provide rich datasets that provide insights into not just what Gen Z think of athletes as brands, but why they do. Two methods have been used: - Focus Groups - Interviews These two methods make it possible to obtain detailed and precise information to know the opinion of the members of generation Z and of relevant personalities of the sector who provide a vision and knowledge for the correct realization of the proposed model. Each of the methods is detailed below.

4.1.1 Focus Groups The first method used are focus groups. It will be used this method repeatedly with different people, to be able to contrast different opinions. It has been decided to carry out focus groups due to the different advantages of using this method. According to Chitra Reddy (Wisestep), focus groups have many advantages, for example, useful insights are provided, reaction of participants can be measured or that the results are better at the end. For this reason, it was decided with one of the methods was going to be the focus group because it can give an accurate view of the knowledge and thought of the participants about the athletes. After studying different models of representation, the functioning of the personal brands of athletes and knowing the origin of the participants, it was decided to discuss and ask about the following athletes, all of them professionals of different sports, nationalities and gender. Knowing the type of participants who were going to participate in the focus groups, it was decided to divide the athletes who were going to be asked into three categories: footballers (majority sport in Spain) who are different from each other in order to see the differences, Spanish female athletes who stand out in their sport and Spanish male athletes who stand out in their sport and are known. In this way it is ensured that there is a knowledge of the athlete, which is interesting, to know how much they know

13 and what they think of them, because if there is not a minimum knowledge of the athlete we could not extract useful and positive results. The sportsmen to debate are:

- Cristiano Ronaldo (Football Player) - Lionel Messi (Football Player) - Ivan Rakitic (Football Player) - Neymar Jr (Football Player) - Ander Herrera (Football Player) - Garbiñe Muguruza (Tennis Player) - Mireia Belmonte (Swimmer) - Ona Carbonell (Synchronize swimming) - Fernando Alonso (Driver) - Rafa Nadal (Tennis Player) - Pau Gasol (Basketball Player) - Marc Marquez (MotoGP rider) In order to have a good database, it was decided to make different focus groups until data saturation. In this case, five focus groups have been carried out to reach this point. The focus groups have been made with between four and five participants in each. There have been two focus groups of girls and three of boys. All of them are at an age within generation Z, specifically between the years of birth 1996 and 2001, and all of them of Spanish nationality but belonging to different autonomous communities. For the proper development of the Focus Group, it has been decided to teach a photograph of each athlete one by one and with each of the athletes repeat the same questions, which will help to know what is the thought of that athlete, who know about they and if they follow their trajectory. In order to do this, the following questions were asked for each one of the athletes: 1. What feelings do these sportspeople convey? 2. What do you think of them? and why? 3. Which brands you associate with them, in addition to which sports organizations - clubs, leagues, events ... 4. Do you follow them in social networks, or their news, etc... During the different focus groups, the result can be said to have been positive. The necessary information has been obtained. The only problems we have had on occasion is the lack of knowledge of some participants about some of the athletes, but they have been very specific situations. In general, the result has been positive, with a lot of interaction among the participants and a high level of response since the objective has been achieved.

4.1.2 Interviews The other method used is semi-structured interviews conducted with industry experts These interviews provided background and context for the analysis of the focus groups and alternative perspectives from the management side of branding. The first interview was with Xavi Lucas, director of the CE Europe academy and school and ex-player of the club's first team. This interview will allow us to know which are the dynamics of the clubs with different players, what they look for in a player, how they form it and that recommend them to the players towards as to be able to become professional, among many other questions. The second interview is with Francesc Valdivieso, professional agent representing footballers. This interview was conducted with several objectives among which is how they work internally, which strategies follow the personal brand of athletes, what recommendations and actions they undertake and how they see the future of the representation of athletes. This vision will allow us to know closely the reality of the agents of representation in order to understand their work and with proposed examples try to obtain the maximum possible information on different cases. With these two interviews, we will have a general vision of the sector which will allow us to go deeper into the concepts and have a much closer vision of the situation we find with the athletes' personal brands.

5. Data Analysis

This chapter focuses on analyzing the data gathered from the focus groups. All of the of the focus groups were transcribed and analysis was undertaken within each focus group and between the different focus groups. The analysis was structured using the main constructs identified in the literature review as these formed the basis of the questions that guided the focus group discussions. The results of this data analysis are synthesized in this chapter using a scorecard approach. As the focus group participants were asked systematic questions about individual athletes, the responses enabled the building of scorecards structured around the key constructs. This approach makes it easier to compare them to draw conclusions and develop a proposal for a personal brand model that maximizes the possible benefits of athletes after comparing and taking the best parts of each of the athletes and their personal brands. The scorecard begins with a description that gathers the main insights drawn from all of the focus groups, where the participants describe their opinions and thoughts of the athlete. This is one of the most important parts as it describes the strengths and weaknesses of each of the athletes, providing critical insights into their potential brand value. Secondly, we find the keywords of each of the athletes, which are the keywords and best define the athletes according to the participants of the focus group. These keywords are particularly important as they provide synthesis and capture the fundamental elements of the brand identity of an athlete. These keywords were the most frequently occurring concepts used to describe the athletes by the participants in the focus groups and show consensus. Next, it is described if they know or if they relate the athlete with social responsibility. This is an important and novel concept that takes on importance as we have seen in the focus groups by the Z generation. If they relate it, with which NGOs or with which cause of solidarity it is related. Below we detail which have been their sporting successes. It is important to keep this aspect in mind because nowadays as we can read in the literature review, one of the most important factors that can radically change the result of an athlete's personal brand is what their sporting successes have been. It is a factor that helps greatly to improve the performance of the personal brand and it is necessary to be able to compare the titles that the athlete has achieved to see what the result is and how it influences the result of the personal brand. Then all the brands that relate the participants of the focus groups with the athlete are named. With this point we will gather all that knowledge and association with the athletes with the brands with the concept of “sponsor recall” playing an important role. This is a key point on which to build the brand identity of the athletes. They are marked with a "green tick" or a "red cross" depending on whether the associations are correct or not. It also indicates the number of brands that are current sponsors of the athletes but that have not been identified by the participants of the focus groups. In this way we can know how

16 much the participants belonging to generation Z know and how much they relate to the athletes. And finally, one of the most important points in the digital era, social networks and engagement. One of the questions was if they were followed in social networks, but also in the main social networks has been verified how many followers the day April 25th of 2019, how many average posts uploaded each month and how many average likes they have per month, to measure the engagement they create with fans.

5.1 Scorecards Description: One of the most famous and important athletes of the world in recent years. A football player who has Cristiano played in the European major leagues and in the best football Ronaldo clubs. They consider him “a leader in the team, but at the same time is a person with an arrogant character and cocky”. They consider that he is an athlete with a very strong personal brand due to the amount of business he has. Participants believe that is “a passionate for sports and winner”. Key Words: Brand association:

Arrogant, leader, physical and passionate.

Social responsibility: Recognized as a person who participates in beneficial works with Unicef and other social foundations.

Social Networks: More than 17 brands (that currently sponsor him) have not been associated to him. 160 million followers o 25 posts/month Sport Performance (Trophies): o 6.6 million likes Until the moment Cristiano has won individually: x5 Ballon (Most followed person in the world) d’Or, x4 UEFA Best player and x4 Bota de Oro.  Real Madrid 120 million followers o 3 Champions League (13/14- 15/16- 16/17) o 19 tweets/month o 2 Spanish Leagues (11/12 – 16/17) o 16.722 retweets o 2 Copa del Rey (2011 – 2014) o 135.527 comments o 2 Spanish Super Cup (2013 – 2018) o 3 European Super Cup (15 – 17 – 18) 122.616.192 followers o 3 FIFA Club World Cup (14 – 16 – 18) o 24 posts/month  Manchester United o 270.000 likes/average o 1 Champions League 2007/08 o 3 Premier League (07- 08 - 09) Engagement Rate: 2.93% o 2 English league Cup (2006 - 2009) Type of content: Sport, daily life, o 1 FA Cup (2004) promotion o 2 English Super Cup (2007 – 2008) o 1 FIFA Club World Cup (2008) Unused webpage (temporarily)  Sporting CP o 1 Portuguese Super Cup (2002)  Portuguese National Team o European Cup (2016)

Table 4: Cristiano Ronaldo Scorecard

Description: He is considered one of the best footballers in history. According to participants is: “a humble person for Leo his gestures that he has always had, very familiar and a Messi reference for people.” They also comment on the problems they have had with the Spanish justice system.

Key Words: Brand association:

God, humility, greatness, undervalue, overvalue, Role model, Familiar

Social responsibility: Related with various charitable works as UNICEF's ambassador and in various charities such as the Sant Joan de Déu Hospital, donating large amounts of money.

More than 6 brands (that currently sponsor him) have not been associated to him. SOCIAL NETWORKS: Sport Performance (Trophies): 112 million followers Individually, Messi has won: o 13 posts/month  5 Ballon d’Or o 5.11 million likes  3 UEFA Best player  4 Botas de Oro No Twitter FC Barcelona: 89.611.812 followers  4 Champions League (06-09-11-15) o 12 posts/month  8 Spanish Leagues (05-06-09-10-11-13-15-16) o 67.159 likes/average  5 Copa del Rey (09-12-15-16-17) Engagement Rate: 4.67%  7 Spanish Super Cup Type of content: Sport  3 UEFA Super Cups Webpage: www.messi.com (Overview of  3 FIFA Club World Cup Messi and creation of engagement with With Argentina, Messi has won: games and apps.)  1 Olympic Medal (2008) An increase in content on social networks  1 Under-20 World Cup (2005) has been detected in the last year, which Also, with Argentina it has arrive to 2 Americans Cup finals has been accompanied by an increase in and 1 World Cup Final. followers. But there is a lack of comments, what makes perceive lack of personality to the content. Table 5: Leo Messi Scorecard

Description: Participants consider him: “a very humble person, very hardworking and familiar.” They believe that Ivan he is not a very determined player because of his style of Rakitic play, or because he is the best, but his effort on the field makes him a very important player for his team.

Key Words: Brand association:

Humble, Familiar, Hardworker.

Social responsibility: No relation with social responsibility actions.

SOCIAL NETWORKS: The main brands associated with Ivan have been recognized.

14.2 million followers Sport Performance (Trophies): o 30 posts/month Ivan has not won any international individual trophy. o 265k likes And as part of a team, has won:  FC Basel 120 million followers o Swiss Cup o 15 tweets/month  Sevilla FC o 1.422 retweets o UEFA Europa League o 13.040 comments  FC Barcelona o 3 Spanish Leagues 4.000.000 followers o 4 Spanish Cups o 19 posts/month o 2 Spanish Super Cups o 22.600 likes/average o 1 Champions League o 1 European Super Cup Engagement Rate: 3.08%  Croatia National Team Type of content: Sport, daily life, o 1 FIFA World Cup promotion

No official webpage. Upload a large content of soccer images and above all of his family, has been highlighted by several focus group participants.

Table 6: Ivan Rakitic Scorecard

Description: He is one of the best and most promising soccer players. Currently playing in PSG, after a Neymar controversial signing and problems with FC Barcelona. Jr. According to participants, is related to the "Tois" (group of friends) and his family especially with his father and sister. Participants, criticized him for the lifestyle (related to party) he has been living for years.

Key Words: Brand association:

Money, God, Friends, Party, Star.

Social responsibility: It is related to Instituto Neymar Jr, based in his hometown. He is the founder of this foundation that helps young children and promotes it in his social networks. SOCIAL NETWORKS: More than 14 brands (that currently sponsor him) have not been associated to him. 160 million followers o 23 posts/month Sport Performance (Trophies): o 2.17 million likes Neymar, has won:  Santos FC 42.8 million followers o 1 Brazilian Cup o 28 tweets/month o 1 Libertadores Cup o 5.966 retweets o 1 South American Super Cup o 50.012 comments  FC Barcelona o 2 Spanish Leagues 60 million followers o 3 Spanish cups o 27 posts/month o 2 Spanish Super cups o 65.800 likes/average o 1 Champions League o 1 European Super cup Engagement Rate: 1.45%  Paris Saint-Germain FC Type of content: Sport, daily life, o 1 French League promotion o 1 French Cup o 1 Spanish Super Cup Webpage: www.neymaroficial.com o 1 Champions League (Biography about Marc, Insitituto o 1 European Super Cup Neymar Jr). o 1 FIFA World Cup With Brazil, Neymar Jr. has won:  1 Gold Medal - Olympics (2016)  1 Silver Medal – Olympics (2012)  1 FIFA confederations cup.

Table 7: Neymar Jr Scorecard

Description: Participants consider him: “a person very love by the teams who played”, as example participants said: Ander Real Zaragoza or Athletic Club fans that still remember him. Herrera According to participants, is player who works hard and who, due to his playing position, has not become a world famous player, but he has a lot of quality.

Key Words: Brand association:

Humble, heart (feels the colors of the club), hard worker.

Social responsibility: No relation with social responsibility actions.

SOCIAL NETWORKS: The main brands associated with Ivan have been recognized.

3.7 million followers Sport Performance (Trophies): o 4 posts/month Ander has not won any international individual trophy. o 98.45 million likes  Manchester United o 1 FA cup 2.6 million followers o 1 Community Shield o 5 tweets/month o 1 Cup of Leahe o 2.499 retweets o 1 UEFA Europa League o 11.949 comments With the Spanish Under 21 Team: o 1 Eurocup Under-21 1 million followers o 0 posts the lasts 2 months

Engagement Rate: 5.4% Type of content: Sport and daily life.

No official webpage.

Table 8: Ander Herrera Scorecard

Description: In the recent years, she has risen to fame in the world of tennis, especially at the Spanish level, after Garbiñe winning Wimbledon. They believe that brands take it as a Muguruza benchmark for Spanish tennis and can be an inspiration for many people. According to participants is consider: “a person with a winner character”.

Key Words: Brand association:

Winner, Idol, Constancy.

Social responsibility: No relation with social responsibility actions.

SOCIAL NETWORKS: More than 7 brands (that currently sponsor her) have not been associated to her. 706k followers o 13 posts/month o 54.92k likes Sport Performance (Trophies):  GRAND SLAM Tournaments: 482k followers o 1 Roland Garros o 15 tweets/month o 1 Wimbledon o 251 retweets/average  WTA Tournaments: o 2.704 comments o 2 Grand Slam o 1 Premier Mandatory 457k followers o 1 Premier 5 o 12 posts/month o 2 Internationals o 1.400 likes/average o 3 Premier (doubles) o 2 Internationals (doubles) Engagement Rate: 4.76% Type of content: Sport, daily life. She achieved the Nº1 Ranking in September 2017

No official webpage.

Table 9: Garbiñe Muguruza Scorecard

Description: She is one of the most referring Spanish athletes of the last times. Participants describes her: “a beast, Mireia which has made great physical efforts such as playing Belmonte different disciplines in the same day”. Her great effort, dedication and humility in his work have always been recognized by the society as participants said. They find it as a benchmark of Spanish sport.

Key Words: Brand association:

Beast, Winner, Hard worker, effort, humble, super woman.

Social responsibility: No relation with social responsibility actions.

SOCIAL NETWORKS: More than 7 brands (that currently sponsor her) have not been associated to her. CN Sabadell and Lidl are not partners 174k followers anymore. o 5 posts/month o 8.58k likes/average Sport Performance (Trophies):  Olympics: 324k followers o 1 Gold Medal (2016) o 5 tweets/month o 2 Silver Medals (2012) o 656 retweets/average o 1 Bronze Medal (2016) o 2.346 comments  World Cups: o 2 Silver Medals 198k followers o 1 Bronze Medal o No content generation  Short Pool: since many months ago. o World Cup . 7 Gold Medals Engagement Rate: 6.08% . 2 Silver Medals Type of content: Sport, daily life, . 1 Bronze Medal promotion o European Championship . 9 Gold Medals Webpage: www.mireiabelmonte.com . 2 Silver Medals (Biography about Mireia, sponsors and contact).

Table 10: Mireia Belmonte Scorecard

Description: One of the athletes with more success in recent years. Captain of the Spanish national team, which makes Ona her a leader. People participating in the focus groups, he did Carbonell not like his character.

Key Words: Brand association:

Winner, character, perseverance, perfection, work.

Social responsibility: No relation with social responsibility actions.

SOCIAL NETWORKS: More than 7 brands (that currently sponsor her) have not been associated to her. 187k followers o 31 posts/month Sport Performance (Trophies): o 9.6k likes/average  Olympics: 61k followers o 1 Silver Medal o 18 tweets/month o 1 Bronze Medal o 19 retweets/average  World Cup: o 126 comments/average o 1 Gold Medal o 9 Silver Medals 96k followers o 10 Bronze Medal o 15 posts/month  European Championship o 610 likes/average o 4 Gold Medals o 6 Silver Medals Webpage: www.onacarbonell90.com o 2 Bronze Medal (News, Content with videos and photos, summer camp, book).

Engagement Rate: 4.02% Type of content: Sport, daily life and promotion. Very active in social networks, posting content every day on Instagram.

Table 11: Ona Carbonell Scorecard

Description: Spanish athlete who has made history in motorsports. Participants describe him as a “unlucky Fernando person”. According to participants, is “a very complete and Alonso versatile rider”, which is why he participates in other competitions totally different from F1, the competition in which he has been part of his sporting career.

Key Words: Brand association:

Champion, character, unfriendly, bad luck, polyvalent, complete.

Social responsibility: No relation with social responsibility actions.

SOCIAL NETWORKS: Most of the brands that can be related with Fernando appear, but then there are main partners of the teams that are not 2.4 million followers related with him. o 32 posts/month o 92.4k likes/average Sport Performance (Trophies):  F1: 2.5 million followers o 2 World Championships o 63 tweets/month o 32 Formula One Grand Prix o 1.149 retweets  Others: o 4.982 comments o 1 “24 Heurs du Le Mans” o 1 “24 Hours Daytona” 1.8 million followers o 10 posts/month o 5.328 likes/average

Engagement Rate: 2.4% Type of content: Sport and promotion.

Webpage: www.fernandoalonso.com (Biography about Fernando, Museum and circuit area, news about Fernando).

Table 12: Fernando Alonso Scorecard

Description: Considered for many the best Spanish athlete. Participants describe him as a: “fighter, with a great effort Rafa and determination”. Participants believe, “he has had bad Nadal luck with the injuries, but he has managed to overcome the problems and has overcome them by returning to the world No. 1 on more than one occasion”.

Key Words: Brand association:

Champion, humble, effort, Idol.

Social responsibility: It is related to social aid such as help in collecting rubble in the floods in Mallorca.

SOCIAL NETWORKS: More than 11 marks have not been associated to him.

6.5 million followers Sport Performance (Trophies): o 7 posts/month  GRAND SLAM Tournaments: o 169.4k likes/average o 11 Roland Garros o 2 Wimbledon 15.6 million followers o 1 Australian Open o 6 tweets/month o 3 US Open o 1.842 retweets/average  ATP: o 12.088 comments o 33 ATP Masters 1000 o 20 ATP Tour 500 14 million followers o 3 ATP Tour 250 o 12 posts/month  Spanish Team o 17.500 likes/average o 4 Davis Cup o 1 Gold Medal Individual Engagement Rate: 2.55% o 1 Gold Medal Doubles Type of content: Sport and promotion. Four years Nº1 ATP Rankings at the end of the season. Webpage: www.rafaelnadal.com (Day to day news about Rafa, Biography, fan engagement area).

Table 13: Rafa Nadal Scorecard

Description: Participants describe him as a “Spanish reference in basketball around the world”. Participants Pau highlight “he had his maximum success in LA Laker where Gasol he won two rings”. According to participant, “has served as inspiration for many people of humility and dedication to their teams and his commitment and work”.

Key Words: Brand association:

Idol, humble, worker, capacity, involved, giant.

Social responsibility: Pau is related to Unicef and collaborations with hospitals where is ambassador also.

SOCIAL NETWORKS: More than 7 brands (that currently sponsor him) have not been associated to him. 1.3 million followers o 6 posts/month Sport Performance (Trophies): o 32.4k likes/average  FC Barcelona o 2 ACB Leagues 7.43 million followers o 1 Copa del Rey o 41 tweets/month  Los Angeles Lakers o 279 retweets/average o 2 NBA Championships o 1.789 comments o 3 West conference titles o 3 Pacific Division Titles 4.4 million followers o 1 All-Star West Conference o 9 posts/month  Memphis Grizzlies o 2.150 likes/average o Rookie of the year  Spanish Team: Engagement Rate: 2.4% o Olympics Games Type of content: Sport, daily life. . 2 Silver Medals o World Cup: Webpage: www. paugasol.com . 1 Gold Medal (Biography and news about Pau, news o European Championship about Gasol Foundation). . 2 Gold Medals . 2 Silver Medals . 1 Bronze Medal

Table 14: Pau Gasol Scorecard

Description: According to participants, “is an athlete who has revolutionized MotoGP in recent years with his style of Marc riding but also with his character”. Participants considered Marquez him as a: “very familiar person” and also closely related to Cervera and to Spain as well as showing a kind and close character with everyone. Participants highlight “is a winner and always struggles to win and never gives up until the last corner”.

Key Words: Brand association:

Natural, Humble, Dare, Happy, Crazy, Winner.

Social responsibility: No relation with social responsibility actions.

SOCIAL NETWORKS: More than 7 brands (that currently sponsor him) have not been associated to him. 3.8 million followers o 34 posts/month o 185k likes/average Sport Performance (Trophies):  MOTOGP: 2.4 million followers o 5 World Championship o 50 tweets/month . 44 Grand Prix o 871 retweets/average  MOTO2 (250cc): o 4.704 comments o 1 World Championship o 16 Grand Prix 4 million followers  MOTO3 (125cc): o 30 posts/month o 1 World Championship o 11.100 likes/average o 10 Grand Prix

Engagement Rate: 4.64% Type of content: Sport, daily life, promotion Webpage: www.marcmarquez93.com (news about Marc, about his Fan Club and official store).

Table 15: Marc Marquez Scorecard

5.2 Scorecards Analysis It appears similarities between some of the athletes even if they are professionals of different sports. In each of the points of the scorecards it has been find similarities and relations. At first glance, we can appreciate the importance of the sporting performance of each athlete in each of their sporting careers. In general, we see that in the majority sports people know more about the profile of the athlete and is more often and known but also in minority sports the athletes with greater sporting success are better known. That is why in order to be followed and known in a minority sport, the sports result has to be excellent. To win important competitions of each sport it creates a fame and a knowledge of the athlete automatically, as it has been seen in the focus groups as the athletes that won more during their life has been recognized easily and with a clear image and knowledge of the athlete. Another important point are the values shown by athletes. We observe that it is one of the factors that generation Z observes about an athlete, whether on the playing field or off. This is translated into the key words with which the athlete is identified. So, these are the words that relate to an athlete in the beginning. The image they show on and off the field is vital to the brand of the athlete as we have appreciated in focus groups. The athlete has to show an image that benefits him at a communicative level but does not change his personality since it is detected according to the participants. Social responsibility is also related in this case since those athletes with clear actions are recognized by society, especially by Generation Z. All the inputs of information that people receive is positive as participants said. It is observed that Generation Z participants mostly identify a single beneficial cause in these cases. What predicts that the most correct strategy is to focus on a single beneficial cause may be beneficial to the athlete. Also noteworthy are the brands that associate participants, mostly clubs, leagues or federations to which they belong. The main sponsors of each of them stand out, which is good to know that Generation Z recognizes the main sponsors of each of the athletes. In some cases, it’s found brand confusion that the participants have, this is not positive for the personal brand of the athlete or for the brands that sponsor athletes. Most of the sponsors are not recognized by athletes so it’s necessary to change the strategy of communication in order In social networks we can see the level of engagement of athletes in social networks where all vary between 2-6% of engagement. The majority network at the moment is Instagram, where the perfect content to upload is summarized in three: sport, daily life and sponsors. We also observe that the creation of content has to be continuous since, for example Cristiano Ronaldo, is the most followed person in Instagram of the world thanks to the continuous post and the variation that exists between them. Most athletes also have a personal website, which is interesting to be able to focus in one place all the activity of the athlete, but at the same time is not recognized or valued by Generation Z as they have not commented the websites at any time.

6. Proposed model

This proposed model is based on all the different points that affect the life of an athlete and that are important throughout the sporting and stage of an athlete. The objective of this model is to build on existing models identified in the literature review with a focus on including the perspective of Generation X and changing fan profiles for the future. The model maximizes the visualization of the athlete and the possible income they can obtain with their image and brand throughout life. There are different five points in common that follow the personal marks of the athletes, to maximize the performance of the athlete's personal brand.

Figure 1: Proposed Model Person: The central point of any personal brand of an athlete is the same athlete, the person. According to the focus groups respondents, one of the most significant and affecting points for the athlete and their personal brand is the education they receive and the attitude they show in front of the fans. The attitude shown by an athlete on and off the playing fields is one of the keys to the image and personal brand of the athlete. The values it transmits are detected by people and can cause fans to make a wrong image of the athlete, which could be terrible for the athlete and the image. The person always has to show a correct image in the field of game, always with personality but without surpassing the limits of the education towards companions, rivals, public, referees, etc... of this way the athlete is assured that in this part the sportsman is harmed. It can be easy for an athlete to lose a fame created for years by following some values for a small problem that has occurred, so it is one of the most important issues to always keep in mind for an athlete. Also, athletes need to know the part of themselves that needs to be communicated, in order to get the better performance of the strategy. It is important to know which points are best for each athlete to sell to the public according to their personality also outside the playing fields. It is necessary to be oneself, to show

31 the own image of the athlete not to lie. All athletes have to look for those that can benefit them more in front of the fans. There are several ways to show athletes in front of the public and each one has to choose the one that benefits more to the athlete and that shows clearly their character. There are several ways to sell one's own personal brand as you can see throughout the model. But there are two that encompass the rest, where it is not necessary to concentrate uniquely on one alternative, but although an athlete may be at a midpoint as neither is a more recommendable option than the other as there are success stories in both options. With this, the only thing that is looking for the athlete is to strengthen one part more than the other depending on the interests of the athletes. The first option is to sell the athlete's image and physical appearance. In order to sell everything related to the physical appearance of the athlete there are two points that must be taken care of: - Body fitness: must be a well-cared for athlete according to the sport they practice, since not all athletes can develop the same parts of the body according to the sport they are professionals in. - Fashion: has to have a current image and a defined style to establish a fashion profile to follow. Following these two points, the athlete will be able to show an image that can become a reference, which will allow him to have new sponsors of the fashion or beauty sector, which will mean more visibility and income for the athlete. The second option is to sell everything the athlete do out of the field. in this case, everything that has happened in the life of the athlete is taken into account, not only in what is happening now, but also in the past if we find it convenient. In this case they can sell different things about them: -Life story: Depending on the personal history until becoming a professional sportsman, the sportsman can choose to promote on his brand that personal history in many occasions of personal overcoming that have managed to fulfill a dream. It is also possible to sell the lifestyle that an athlete follows if it is recommended. A family sportsman's style is very favorable for the public as well. Although other lifestyles can also be very valid. The important thing is not to lie to the public about a story or a lifestyle that does not really lead the athlete. - Behavior and interaction with fans: The behavior and the image of relationship that a sportsman maintains with the fans is one of the most important points. Creating interaction with fans such as stopping to take photos, signing autographs, having some detail with fans can become very important because if it is repeated many times you can create a very positive image which can lead to increase the positioning of the personal brand, because as we have seen in the focus group the feeling and respect that athletes can show to fans can be remarkable and highly valued by people. What the athlete shows on and off the field must be consistent. Another of the important points for an athlete and that can affect the athlete in a very significant way is his family and friends. They are part of the influence that the athletes receive and where also the

32 formation of these is important. They cannot be moved by the money that can be produced by the athlete but by their sporting and personal interests. At this point in the model we can find similarities with current models such as the study of Akiko Arai, Yong Jae Ko and Stephen Ross (2014), but this is a more current and renewed version and thought for the Z generation, which allows to have a wide market. but this is a more current and renewed version and thought for the Z generation, which allows to have a wide market. But other strategies that followed athletes as we have seen have not worked with generation Z and must be updated and renewed with ideas such as those proposed earlier in this point of the model.

Social Media: To create the biggest fan engagement with social media, it is necessary to follow some parameters to maximize the fans that follow the different social media and the engagement that is created with the fans in order to be able to increase income from social networks and ensure visibility of the athlete and his personal brand beyond the sporting career which can be a great benefit for the future. The findings of this study indicate that the first of the keys to have a great fan engagement is to be present in all the main social networks of the moment. At this moment there are three major social networks (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) where it is vital that all athletes are present in each of these social networks. Not to be present in any of the social networks is to lose opportunities to increase the knowledge and follow up of the footballer, in short, it is to lose opportunities of possible income for the athlete. User names should be easily recognizable by fans. Then it exists other ways to promote it, with other social networks such as YouTube or with a personal website. The website can be created in order to publish all the actions produced by the athlete, sell personal merchandising (only if it exists), publish statistics, etc... summarizing, is to publish everything that affects the athlete and the image. Once the athlete has accounts in all the different social media, it’s necessary to create continuous content for all the social networks. It is also mandatory to create different content for all the social networks as it is not useful to create the same content for all of them. It needs to be adapted the content to the social network and to the type of followers they have as it can be different. With the creation of content, you have to create engagement with the fans with interaction in order to show the personalization of the account. For example, commenting some comment of fans, giving like to comments, showing publicly some funny anecdote, etc... with this type of strategies we increase the engagement of the account. The content upload in the different social media need to be different, i.e. a mix of everything he does. For example, upload photos and videos of training and competitions in which he participates, personal life, other hobbies, advertising of brands that sponsor him, etc ... In short, it has to be a varied content as it is how you can get to have more fan engagement. An example of creation and mix of content is the Instagram of the footballer Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano).

Another important point to capture a large number of fans, is to appear in different accounts, such as tournaments, leagues, clubs, selections, etc ... that are related to the athlete. It must be controlled by contract the number of appearances in the social networks of the club or other entities to which the athlete belongs, as they are accounts with great potential to attract new fans and give visibility to the athlete. Until now, this point had not been taken as an important point for the athletes' personal mark due to the circumstances of the moment. But in this new model proposal for the personal brands of athletes, is one of the most important points as we have seen, as it is where they concentrate and interact with the Z generation in addition to being one of the ways to earn income. It is a key point for the development of the athlete's personal brand.

Athletic Performance: One of the most important points for an athlete in all his life is that he competes, which club it belongs to (for collective sports), what possibilities exist to win a competition, etc... To have the opportunity to dispute an international competition with a fame and an important number of followers is one of the most important points, depending on this factor the market of people that you can reach can be much bigger or smaller. Besides the most recognized athletes, besides winning a lot, they do it in the best international competitions what is more important, as this is the way to attract new fans of the generation Z, due to the internationalization of the market and of the fans. For team sports it is very important for an athlete to choose well which team to belong to, as it can radically change a player entire history. A club can greatly enhance the brand of a footballer due to the power of concentration and mobilization that they have on the fans. Clubs are those that empower a player to become a star as we can see in different cases, since a large number of clubs like to promote players directly from their academy to use them in their first team or to position a player in the market. That's why, as the bigger the club and participate in bigger competitions, the more possibilities a player will have to promote, become a professional player and get to have a personal brand recognized worldwide. The athlete needs to see the values of the club to sign a contract so that there is no conflict of interest with the values represented by the athlete. According to focus groups participants, one of the most important points, and which show the personality of the athlete is his behavior on the playing field. The professionalism, companionship with teammates and rivals, humility, knowing how to win and lose games, fair play, etc ... All these behaviors are very easily detected by the public, and is one of the most valued points by the young public because they consider that in those moments of tension is when you really show the true character of the athlete. But in the end, it is very important to be victorious, because people know the athletes in a great majority of the occasions by the victories obtained. This facilitates brand advertising and personal image as you get a large number of fans almost automatically due to the career.

Sponsorships: The finding of this study indicate that to get the most out of a sponsor, apart from the financial compensation, we have to take into account different points, to get the most out of the sponsor and benefit the image and personal brand of the athlete. That's why one of the most important points is to choose a brand that sponsors the athlete that is big and important. This will allow the athlete to have a greater visibility in front of the fans either in advertisements, social networks, etc... It is also important for this pact to be beneficial for the athlete to know the number of appearances with the brand will have on social networks, as it can give great visibility to the athlete. The strong point of a brand that leads the market is the visualization that gives the athlete to the fans. While it is true that you have to study each case to see what position of leadership you can get to have in the brand and that number of promotional events, announcements and appearance in the media they offer. In order to maximize the sponsorship of the athlete with a brand, we must also take into account the brand that wear the club (if it belongs to a club) because it would be good to match. Matching the club-sponsoring brand with the player-sponsoring brand can be very beneficial for both for different reasons: 1. Avoid the brand confusion, many fans confuse the brands that sponsor the players as it does not match the brand the club wears. 2. The club can get a much more beneficial contract if their great players match the brand the club wears, as they can make many more advertising campaigns and media appearances. 3. The player will benefit from other players appearing on club social networks and other promotional events, which will give greater visibility to fans. Another important point at the advertising level are the advertisements and collaborations that are made sporadically with brands that are not related to the sport practiced by the athlete. All the collaborations and announcements that the athlete can make will always be good as it will give greater visibility to the athlete. The only condition is that the brand for the athlete to work follows a philosophy similar to the athlete, so as not to enter into a conflict of interest on the personal brand of the athlete. Social responsibility: Like all brands, the brand and personal image of an athlete needs to be committed in some way with some social responsibility. That's why it's important for sportsmen and sportwomen to collaborate with NGOs, in order to show their most human side and take advantage of their fame that athletes in most of the cases have to give visibility to NGOs in front of thousands of fans. The ideal for an athlete is to collaborate with large NGOs, so that they give greater visibility to your image (since they have more resources) and can be more universal and structured to receive donations from fans. There is also the possibility of creating social awareness in different causes such as recycling, water, etc... But it would not be good to focus on many issues as there would

35 be a saturation. The ideal would be to focus on a single solidary cause so as not to create confusion among fans and identify the athlete with a solidary cause. After years can be recognized by society's commitment to awards such as the "Creu de Sant Jordi" to Leo Messi, for his commitment to young children with diseases and other similar causes that has done with Unicef. Until now, this had been a point that had not been taken into much consideration but as we have seen it is an important point and highlight those belonging to the "generation Z". It is a new element that is added to the models of the personal brand of the athletes important and beneficial for the personal image of the athlete in addition to the help that receive thanks to this those benefic causes or NGOs. What happens to the athlete's personal brand after the retirement from professional sport? One of the main problems that athletes find during their lives is when they finish the stage as a professional athlete, which tends to be short. Many of them try to live the rest of their lives from what they have generated, and others try to combine it with other jobs related to the world of sport or others. This is only useful for sportsmen and women who have been very successful and who have a training, it does not affect the majority. The vast majority of athletes live on what they have been able to save, but this can only exist if there is a training behind and even so the standard of living they had low, because a month have less money. But there are ways to try to get more income there are different ways: The easiest way for an athlete, is to stay linked to the sport he has practiced all his life, as he dominates more than anyone else the sport and knows how it works. That is why the first recommendation is to remain linked to the league where you have played, federation, club, etc ... These are positions difficult for athletes to achieve because only those who have won a lot in the club, leagues or federations get these top positions of these entities. That's why it's hard to get a position like this. Another option may be to take advantage of social networks. Athletes tend to have a large number of followers in social networks, so they could act as influencers. One option might be to create content for the sport in which you are a professional to try to maximize revenue through advertising. There is also the possibility that in this way, as you still have a visibility, that journalistic media contact a footballer to make collaborations, which can be interesting because it would mean that you are still linked to sport and active. This is why it is a strategy that is recommended to start a year or two before retiring from professional sport, because this way you ensure that the fans you have will know what your future is and it is possible to continue following your accounts as it will be something different and creating regular content. These and other alternatives would allow to follow the sportsman linked with the sport and with visibility towards the fans what would suppose that they could arrive an extra income and this way to improve the personal life of the athletes, besides doing some good finances during the epoch of athlete that is when the sportsmen make more money. It is necessary that the accounts are controlled, with a long-term pension plan to continue enjoying a stable life.

7. Conclusions In order to propose a new model, it has been necessary to understand how a model of professional personal brand to understand the current strategies followed by athletes to promote their image and personal brand. Once we have understood what the problems have been, we introduce the opinion through focus groups with different participants, all of them belonging to generation Z, to know their opinion, what is their knowledge about athletes and with what they relate their image and personal brand. Based on these opinions, scorecards have been built, in order to unite all the information and be able to analyze all the information correctly. The proposed model is designed to maximize the visibility of the athlete to the fans and therefore also to maximize the annual income of the athlete, not only during his stage as a professional sport, but also after the end of the stage as a professional, try to attract as much income as possible for as long as possible. During the stage as an athlete, which is where the model focuses primarily and where athletes get the vast majority of income they can generate during their lifetime, the model focuses on five main points. 1. Person: This first point develops how a footballer should be sold on and off the pitch. Generation Z is looking at a few details that were hitherto unappreciated and that are now very important. What the athlete shows on and off the field of play must be consistent. In the field of play mainly the athlete has to show some values that are very appreciable by the Z generation. This, like how to sell oneself personally, has to go according to how that person is. Outside the pitches you can sell more personal image (Body fitness and fashion) or your life story and values (Behavior and interaction with fans) although there may be a mix between the two parts. The education received by the athlete and also his family can play a key role in the life of the athlete and also in their personal brand. 2. Social Media: A point that takes a lot of importance in the model and that until now had not been taken into account. The most important factors is to be present in all social networks, create content continuously and very varied also display different content on each of the social networks. These as the factor of appearing in other social networks such as clubs, leagues, federations, sponsors, etc... help maximize the image of the athlete. 3. Athletic Performance: In this point, the key is to be able to dispute the maximum categories of the sport that you practice. This allows you to have a visualization and exposure to the whole world that is very important for the image of the athlete. For those who play in collective sports, it is important to belong to one of the big clubs, for different reasons, such as the large mass of fans who host you and the visualization and support you can give and that may reach the youngest to professional sport and the elderly to consecrate themselves as legends. Enhances the image of athletes. 4. Sponsorships: The first important point is to have large sponsors and recognized by society, as it helps the image of the athlete is more recognizable and popular. This brand has to share some values with the athlete because the image of the

athlete is linked to the brand, which can be beneficial but sometimes also very bad. The sportsman, if he belongs to a club, must try to coincide with his team because otherwise there is the risk of brand confusion, so that this phenomenon occurs is a minor risk, It can become beneficial for both overlap (athlete and club or federation). In advertising that does not affect sport, it is positive to carry out campaigns as long as it does not conflict with the athlete's personal brand. 5. Social responsibility: It is one of the points that until now had not been considered. Athletes need to be related to some charitable cause or NGO, it is necessary and recommended that it be a single charitable cause or NGO to not confuse and relate the athlete with that in which he is involved. It can improve the image of the athlete to a great extent as it is recognized by society and the "Z generation". Following the steps of each of the five main points with small adaptations to the athlete and the situation encountered, will increase the visibility and income of the personal brands of athletes due to the adaptation to the new generation Z which is the one that consumes and will consume the products of athletes and their personal brands. As mentioned above, it also describes a strategy for once the athlete has finished his stage as a professional. It is a strategy that begins in many cases before the athlete's retirement depending on where he wants to direct his life the rest of the years. There is no single solution in this case, as each athlete can choose different options to face his personal brand also depending on when in during the career the retirement arrives. This model aims to maximize the visualization of the athlete in a positive way towards what the Z generation likes and also maximize the income that can have the athlete either during their career as well as once this finished his stage as an athlete.

8. Bibliography

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9. Appendix Appendix A First Focus Group: Date of the Focus Group: 03/09/2017 Participants: Jordi Balcells, Marcel Boquer, Josep Soler-Vicens, Sergi Cortés and Xavi Cortés.

CRISTIANO RONALDO: When they talk about Cristiano Ronaldo, the first thing that came to their mind are two words: insolence and conceited. They have a very definite image on it. We also have to know that 4 of the interviewees were fans of FC Barcelona and one of RCD Espanyol, which can also influence. They also think that he always wants to have the leading role in the team of which he is a part. This is in line with what the interviewees mentioned earlier. Cristiano Ronaldo is related to different brands and sports organizations such as: Nike, Real Madrid, Portugal and Adidas. Of the 5 people who have done the focus group, none of them follow it in social networks, but all of them follow their news permanently and the team of which it is part.

LIONEL MESSI: About Leo Messi 4 of the 5 people agree quite well to describe it, but one of them being a fan of RCD Espanyol, varies the general opinion that others may have. The words that come to mind and opinions are as follows: undervalue, God, humility, greatness, overvalue. As we see one of the words does not follow the same line as the rest, and it is because one of the interviewees was not a fan of FC Barcelona. They say he is the best player in the world, he is humble and everything he does proves it in the field. Another one of the phrases that the non-fan of FC Barcelona said was that the teams would play better but depend solely on him. Also among the phrases they said made reference to the judicial problems he had in the past with Spanish justice. The brands, sporting entities or countries that relate with him are: Adidas, Barça and Argentina.

And with respect to social networks and news: 4 of them follow it in social networks, and they all follow it with the news that appears in the sports news. Both his news as well as those of Barça and Argentina National Team follow.

IVAN RAKITIC: All the members that participate in the focus group recognize Ivan as a very hardworking soccer player for his team that tries very hard and is considered a "midfielder" since it is everywhere in the football field and is always seen working. They recognize Ivan Rakitic as a player that technically maybe is not the best, but works very hard and does everything in the field. As we see the interviewees have a very good opinion about Ivan, and above all they have the image of a humble and hard working person. Four of the five interviewees follow Ivan Rakitic on social networks, and all follow his news and those of his team. They related Ivan with his actual football club, that is Barça and with the brand that sponsors him, Adidas.

NEYMAR JR: Neymar JR is one of the most fashionable players this day after being the most expensive signing in history (222 million Euros) to PSG. Also for his controversial departure he had of FC Barcelona. That is why the opinions that the interviewees had were controversial, except for the fan of Espanyol. Four of the five people qualified him with just one word: “mercenary”. And one of them, I call it “God”. That's why we see how fans of Barça are angry with him, and fans of other teams, consider him as a very good player, but as we observe they move a lot because of their feelings towards their teams and therefore towards the players that form part of their team. The interviewees that consider him as “mercenary”, explain why they say this to him, and that’s because they argument that Barça give him the opportunity to come to Europe and has not taken advantage of it. And because they say that he was in the best team in the world and has gone only for money and not for sports motivation as he argues. Just one of him follow him in the social networks actually, but before his movement to PSG three more of the five interviewees follow him in the social networks. And just two of the five follow their news in the PSG, when it plays in the FC Barcelona all of them follow their news.

Neymar relates it to different institutions and brands. Therefore it is related to Brazil and the Ligue 1. And commercial level is related to Nike, which is the brand that sponsors him personally.

ANDER HERRERA: Ander Herrera is Spanish footballer that plays at Manchester United. Some years ago, it plays at the Spanish league for Athletic de Bilbao but it starts at Real Zaragoza. For the interviewees, Ander is humble person and also a person that people love in the team that is part or that it has been part. Also, him loves the teams that he has been part and a clear example is that he wants to came back to Real Zaragoza, a humble team that can’t compete with the big clubs. Another example, is the moment when he leaves the Athletic de Bilbao, an image of him crying because he leaves his club that Athletic Club fans remember very well. They relate with him Athletic de Bilbao, and his personal Sponsor: Adidas. It’s strange that a football player is more relate with his past club than the actual, but maybe is because here in Spain we have more the image of Ander Herrera in the Athletic de Bilbao than in the Manchester United. No one of the interviewees follow Ander Herrera in the Social Networks, but all of the follow their news and Manchester United news.

GARBIÑE MUGURUZA: Garbiñe Muguruza, is a Spanish tennis player that compete in the WTA. Nowadays Garbiñe is the N.1 of the WTA ranking that is update every week. The interviewees talk about Garbiñe Muguruza as a winner, as women that fight every point as the last one, and maybe is the key of the good tennis that she plays. Another word that they relate with her is the constancy which she it plays. They relate Garbiñe Muguruza with Adidas, that is his personal sponsor. No one of the interviewees follow her in social networks, but they follow her news, when she plays a tournament or not, etc…

MIREIA BELMONTE: Mireia Belmonte is one of the best swimmers in the history of swimming in Spain and in the world. When I show her photo to the interviewees, the first reaction and the first words that come to their mind is aerodynamic, velocity, they said that she’s like a dolphin. So, what they relate to her is her great speed in the water, and her great performance as a swimmer.

Also, they highlight the work she does in order to achieve these great results, so she is considering as a hardworking woman. Of the total of the five interviewees, no of them follow her in social networks but all of them are inform about her actual news, and know about her participation in competitions and obviously, their winnings. All of them relate Mireia Belmonte with Speedo that is her personal sponsor and they also know about her and relate it with Spanish National team of swimming. ONA CARBONELL: Synchronized swimming is not a popular sport in Spain. But with the arrival of Ona Carbonell or other famous synchronized swimmers like Gemma Mengual, the sport become more famous in Spain. That’s why, when we talk about Ona Carbonell people know who is her. Our interviewees relate her with one basic word: Elegance. If you see her swimming you’re going to see her being very elegant, and she achieve this objective with a lot of effort, and that’s why she is one of the best swimmers in the history. But as I said before, is not a very popular sport the synchronized swimming in Spain and no one of our interviewees follow her in the social networks. But they follow her news just during Olympic period or during the World Championships. In summary, they just follow her news during important competitions. And no of them know any brand related to her, or any sport sponsor she could have.

FERNANDO ALONSO: Fernando Alonso is a Spanish Formula One driver, which has in its list of two world championships of Formula One in 2005 and 2006 with Renault. When the interviewees talk about Fernando Alonso, they talk as him as the best driver of the world. But they say of him that he has been very unfortunately with the decisions that he take about being in a team or in another. They say that he doesn’t stay in the right team in the right moment. That he’s big mistake it has been to don’t change of team in the right moment. They say also that in every team he has left his memory there. Two of the five interviewees follow him in social networks, and all of them follow their news during the Gran Prix of Formula One. But some of the interviewees say also that when he was in Ferrari they follow more his news, because of the importance of being in a team as Scuderia Ferrari. They relate Fernando Alonso with most of the teams in which he has been. They relate Fernando with: Honda, Ferrari and Renault.

RAFA NADAL: Rafa Nadal is considered for many people as the best Sportsmen of the history of Spain. He’s one of the best tennis players of the history. And actually he’s the N.1 of the ranking ATP. He’s define by our interviewees as a winner, as a fighter, and he’s related with the words of constancy and effort. They relate all these words with him because he is a very good sportsman, he was very unlucky with the injuries but he has recovered and now he is once again the number 1 in the world. Just one of our interviewees follow Rafa Nadal on the social networks, but all of the follow their news and watch some of their important matches in TV. They relate with Rafa some of their personal sponsors like Babolat, Nike and Richard Mille that is the watch that he use to play the tennis matches.

PAU GASOL: Pau Gasol is one of players of basketball more famous of the history in Spain. He began his sports career in Spain, specifically at FC Barcelona. He was then signed by the Memphis Grizzlies, and has also played in the Los Angeles Lakers, Chicago Bulls and currently in the San Antonio Spurs for a total of 17 seasons in the NBA, the most important basketball league in the world. He’s define by the interviewees as a giant and a tall player. As we noted this player is remembered for his height, so selling his height as strategy could be a very good marketing strategy. Because it makes it very worth its height when playing basketball. None of the respondents follow in social networks, and only 3 of the 5 interviewed follow their news daily and the NBA in general. They relate Pau Gasol with the Spanish National Team and Los Angeles Lakers. MARC MARQUEZ: Marc Marquez is a MotoGP rider who is currently the champion and is also the current leader of the championship. The interviewees they characterize Marc Marquez with this words: Dare, Crazy, Winner. They relate these words with him because the kind of overtaking he does on the track. They say also that Marquez can still improve a lot, because is young. Just one of the interviewees follow him in social networks, but all of them follow their news constantly and MotoGP news. They also relate Marc Marquez with Honda, Repsol and Danet, as it made an announcement that became very popular with this brand.

Appendix B Second Focus Group: Date of the Focus Group: 30/01/2018 Participants: Enrique Deu, Alex De la Mora, Joel Sangines, Sergi Casanovas

CRISTIANO RONALDO: Cristiano Ronaldo is a very good sportsman and footballer, but he has had the bad luck to match another player who is better than him. It will be a player left for the story but it is not the best. Another interviewee does not stand out for being a footballer, but for being a well-known public figure. That it generates respect for how the sport respects, how it is prepared and the healthy life that follows to be 100%. The third interviewee says that as a footballer he is very good but in other aspects: for the publicity he is a character that attracts a lot and that influences the youth a lot in all the things he does (but in this case he does not like the way what is it) Cristiano Ronaldo is related to Nike, Real Madrid and Adidas for being the sponsor of Real Madrid. One of the interviewees follows him on social networks, and the other two follow his news and those of his team.

LEO MESSI: Messi is considered the best footballer in history or one of the best since many of the interviewees have not seen many good players because their age. They emphasize that he is a soccer player with a "gift". They also emphasize his role as a wrestler with his growth problems that he had, growing up in Argentina coming from a humble family and finishing being one of the best football player in the history. They mark him as a referent. They relate Messi with Adidas that is his personal sponsor, FC Barcelona and the videogame “FIFA”. All of them follow Messi in the social networks and follow his daily news and the one of their teams.

IVAN RAKITIC: About Ivan Rakitic, they define him as an excellent athlete, that when it plays always do his job very good and with effort. It is characterized to be a worker and to be discreet. That never wants to override above others and that he is a good teammate. Just one of the interviewees follow him in social networks, but all the rest follow his news and the one’s of their team or national team.

They relate Ivan Rakitic with different things such as: Sevilla FC, FC Barcelona and Adidas. (VIDEOGAME)

NEYMAR JR: They consider Neymar Jr as one of the best football players of the world and as the future “Balloon d’Or”. They think of Neymar that he looks selfish and that he likes a lot of appearing to others about what he have. They thought also that he moves to PSG because the money. Just one of them follow Neymar JR in their social networks although I do not like to follow him so much since he's not at Barça. The other two members of the focus group, don’t follow him from the beginig. They relate him with Nike, PSG and with PokerStars.

ANDER HERRERA: Just two of them know who is Ander Herrera and where he plays. The two people that knows him says that is a very good Spanish player and that he is call to be an important player in the Spanish National Team in the medium term. They know something about his history, that he’s from the basque country he played in Athletic de Bilbao. Just one of the interviewers follow him on social networks, then one follow his daily news and Manchester United news and the other don’t follow anything related to him. They relate him with Manchester United and Athletic de Bilbao, the two most important clubs were they play.

GARBIÑE MUGURUZA: They define Garbiñe as a beast, as a reference. They also say that for many years that women's tennis did not have a reference and that they are proud that she is representing the Spanish women's tennis. Also for the people is not a tennis fan is important to have her there because it attracts many people, especially women, to continue playing tennis. They don’t follow her on social networks, but they follow the news when she participates in an important tennis tournament or when she wins some tournament. They relate her with Adidas and with the National Team of Tennis.

MIREIA BELMONTE: They thought about her that is an historic athlete for Spain. They think that she is a woman who is very demanding with herself, that she works very hard and that’s why she gets very good results. They think that it is a sport for which you have to make many sacrifices and she has made them and after a difficult path she has achieved the expected results. Also not only in a discipline as it is also very versatile. Just one of them follow her on social networks, but all of them follow her new apecially in Olympic period and world cups and special tournaments. They relate her with Club Natació Sabadell, and with the Spanish National Team when she participate in international competitions.

ONA CARBONELL: Just one of them follow this sport. The rest what they know about her is more in the collective part than the individual. They remember about her, what they achieve some years ago as a team in the Olympics and the world cups. They thing that is a women that have the values of the effort, basic if you want to win important competitions in this sport. Also they remember the problem that the girls had with her coach some years ago, Anna Tarrés. None of them follow her in any social networks, but they follows her news on important tournaments, Olympic period, etc… They relate her with the famous gyms DIR, that she was imatge of the gyms during some years.

FERNANDO ALONSO: They consider Fernando as an historic athlete for Spain and for all the world. Thanks to him in Spain the people follow the Formula 1. They think that some years ago was better, but they also consider that the performance that an athlete can have in the Formula 1 depends a lot of the car, and he has not had the best cars always. But they say that with a better car, provably he will be fighting for the Grand Prix every weekend. About the fame that can have of being an unfriendly person, the interviewees say that each one is as it is, and that for sure with his friends is completely different to how it is with the press and that they can not judge him only by what they watch on TV. Just one of them follow him on social networks, and about the news just one follow the news of each Grand Prix. The others two interviewees say that some years ago they follow the news of F1, but now no. They relate him with Renault, Honda, McLaren. But they say that they have seen him in many ads and being image of several brands.

RAFA NADAL: They define Rafa as a machine. They highlight about him the mentality and physical resistance that very few elite athletes have. Also this mentality that it have, it helps them a lot because with a sport like tennis is very important to have this mentality that he have. They admire him above all for these two facets of him, and how, after as many injuries as he has had, he has managed to overcome to be the number 1 in the world. Two of them follow him on social networks, but all of them follow his daily news, and watch he most important games that he plays. And they relate him with Nike, and with the Spanish National Team when he compete with the National team in international competitions.

PAU GASOL: About Pau Gasol, they think that he’s the best Spanish basketball player of all times. Is the men that open the Spanish basketball to the world. They think there is a before and an after the appearance of Pau Gasol. At the ACB level, which made the Spanish league improve in international reputation and also at national and European level, what made a revalue of that league. They think that is one of the first European that has triumphed a lot in the NBA, and that has marked an era. They consider Pau as a referent and an iconic character that will be remembered for a long time. Two of them follow him on social networks, and all of them follow the NBA news. But one of them only sporadically since it considers that a lot of information arrives due to the large number of matches. They relate him with Nike, Los Angeles Lakers and the NBA.

MARC MARQUEZ: The first thing that come to the mind of our interviewees about Marc Marquez is a comparation with Leo Messi. They thing that Marc have a gift with the motorbike. They highlight about Marc Marquez the 6 world championships that have and the early age. So they say that if he continue in this way, he will be one of the drivers with more World Championships. They say also that how a person, they can not have a clear opinion about him without meeting him personally but that is friendly, familiar, humble, always with a smile and with the feet touching the ground that is very important for the athletes like him. Two of them follow him on social networks and all of them follow the MotoGP news. They follow more MotoGP news than Formula1 news, basically because formula 1 has decreased while MotoGP has increased its number of fans. They relate Marc Marquez with some brands like Repsol, Pull & Bear and Red Bull.

Appendix C Third Focus Group: Date of the Focus Group: 21/11/2017 Participants: Elena Robres, Andrea Hidalgo, Mari Carmen Cabrera, Rocío Delgado

CRISTIANO RONALDO: The first words they have about Cristiano Ronaldo are related to their physical appearance, but they also talk about their behavior where they say that at first glance they look arrogant, but then they think that they have a good personality, and they give as an example the great number of donations what does he do in charity. They also say that he is intelligent for how he has known how to sell his image around the world, and they think that if he did not do it in this way they do not believe that he will arrive to where he has arrived. Cristiano Ronaldo is related to a large number of brands and companies such as: Adidas, Gillette, Calvin Klein and is also related to Real Madrid. Regarding the monitoring of social networks and news follow-up, only one of the four interviewees follow him on social networks and daily news.

LEO MESSI: As usual, Leo Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are constantly compared and as in many other groups of people they have fans and people they do not like because they support other players. Messi is related a lot to the judgment he maintained for not paying taxes correctly. This is one of the biggest he has had, and that people have more present. But on the contrary, Messi have a thought of being a more family man, since they knew the story of Messi with his wife, who are a couple since they were little. Leo Messi is related to Barça only by them, and only one of the three follows him on social networks. (Messi in recent months has changed his strategy in social networks and decided to hang many more photos on Instagram which has made him gain followers a lot, even going almost to overcome Neymar).

IVAN RAKITIC: Ivan Rakitic is one of the key players of current FC Barcelona, but he had a very important past with Sevilla FC. That is why in Seville they still have Ivan Rakitic very present, since he is still going to Seville since he is married to a Sevillian, and that is why they still love him so much in that city.

They say they can not highlight anything about their personality because they do not know much about him. And they also say that he is not a 100% determinant player for his team. They relate it above all to Sevilla and Barcelona, their current team. But they not relate him with any personal sponsor that it can have.

NEYMAR JR: About Neymar Jr, they do not have very good words towards him. The first thing that comes to mind is his departure this summer from FC Barcelona, and who qualify as not being a good person what he has done with the club. Since they think that FC Barcelona gave him the opportunity to come here, and be the novelty in the European market but he has not been able to thank the effort that was made to bring Europe to one of the biggest clubs at this time. And all came to the conclusion that he was a player who did not like them, so they could see about him. Do of the girls followed him on social networks, but after his departure from FC Barcelona they stopped following him on social networks. As we saw in the previous focus group, many people stopped following after their departure from FC Barcelona.

ANDER HERRERA: Ander Herrera is currently a Manchester United player, but before getting there, he played for Athletic Bilbao and Real Zaragoza. On this occasion two of the girls (Sevilla) did not know him, but two of them did (Zaragoza). The two girls who knew him relate it above all to the city of Zaragoza, as it was very dear to the fans of Zaragoza. That's why they still relate it to that club. The other girls, they do not relate it to any club or league. Only one of the girls follows him on social networks and follows his news, the other three do not follow him.

GARBIÑE MUGURUZA: To Garbiñe Muguruza, they did not know her even being one of the most popular tennis players in the whole world, and to have won very important grand slams like Wimbledon. Therefore we can not add more on the opinion they have about Garbiñe Muguruza. When they saw that they did not know her, they wanted to make reference to the discrimination between the sexes that exists in the world of sports because other athletes like Rafa Nadal, who can be on a level similar to her, are known but she is not.

MIREIA BELMONTE: Mireia Belmonte, they have all identified it at first glance, and they all have very good impressions about it. They have described her as a superwoman, who is amazing as a person and athlete, and who represents women very well in the world of sports. Surprisingly to Mireia Belmonte the relationship with "Lidl" as a brand that she is sponsored. And all the girls follow your news when they appear on the news, or online in the main newspaper.

ONA CARBONELL: Of Ona Carbonell, three of the four interviewees knew her and knew that she is dedicated to synchronized swimming. But one of the girls who knew who said that he is a person who did not like him, because he thought she was a high-handed girl because of what she saw of her. In this case they follow their news when there is an Olympiad which is the most important championship in synchronized swimming, and it is when it has more media coverage.

FERNANDO ALONSO: With Fernando Alonso they have all recognized him and they have known the first one who was Fernando Alonso. One of them has described him as his childhood idol. Two of them have said that they like it a lot, and they qualify it as a humble person. But one of them has said that she does not like his personality and his way of being. Two of them do not follow him on social networks and neither do his news. But the other two girls did follow their news, and one of them also watched the F1 races when Fernando Alonso was in his glorious F1 era. This is something that has happened to a lot of people if you compare the audience that has Formula 1 today and during the years 2005-2006 and the following years when he won the two Formula 1 World Championships. Fernando Alonso is relate to Formula 1 and Renault, the brand that makes him World Champions. RAFA NADAL: Rafa Nadal who is one of the best athletes in history in Spain, has been recognized quickly by all the girls. And they qualify it as an example to follow for young people and that has values such as effort and discipline. Three of them follow him on social networks like Facebook and Instagram. But they all follow the news that comes out of him daily.

And they relate it to the car brand Kia, of which he is the image of the brand, since it appears on numerous occasions on television with the announcement of the brand in the media.

PAU GASOL: Pau Gasol is one of the most important athletes in the history of Spanish basketball. All agree that they like them very much as an athlete and as a person since they find him a very good person, simple and that he has no problems with anyone, so they consider him a very good athlete. Pau Gasol is related above all to the NBA, but also to Banco Popular and to the announcement he made that became very famous in Spain. Pau Gasol is followed by two of the girls in social networks and in the daily news that appears about him, also follow much his brother Marc Gasol who also plays in the NBA in the Memphis.

MARC MARQUEZ: In this case everyone also knows Marc Marquez, the MotoGP rider. One of the girls qualifies Marc Marquez as a person who perfectly represents what the Marca España is. But he is described as a cheerful person too. One of the girls follows him on the social networks on Twitter specifically, but the other girls usually follow his news. And they also say that they relate Marc Marquez with Repsol, which is the brand that sponsors the Honda team that is the team with which he runs. And surprisingly they also relate it to the TV show "el hormiguero" which makes us see the importance of appearing on television programs and being in constant contact with the fans.

Appendix D Fourth Focus Groups: Date of the Focus Group: 24/03/2019 Participants: Lluis Clerch, Marc Pascual, Alvaro Rozada and Pau Folguera. CRISTIANO RONALDO: They define Cristiano Ronaldo as the perfect brand, they relate Cristiano with the many businesses he has under his name and other brands that have it as an advertising reference. On the contrary, as a person they find him very bright, a person who is not humble and who in certain occasions makes arrogant gestures and that surpass as the gesture to the fans of the Atletico de Madrid in the Champions League. That's why, finally, they come to the conclusion that Cristiano Ronaldo creates a lot of passion among the fans that makes him love him or hate him, and that will be remembered after the passage of time for his indisputable personality. They also recognize their most beneficial side, as they collaborate with Unicef and many other foundations that help the most disadvantaged people. Cristiano Ronaldo is associated with many brands such as: Nike, Adidas, Calvin Klein, Portugal, Real Madrid. None of them follow Cristiano in any social network.

LIONEL MESSI: The first thing they say about Leo Messi is that on a personal level he is totally the opposite of Cristiano Ronaldo. From Messi they say that he is humble, he plays for the team, it is simpler even though both are top soccer players, but where in the field they are already marked by the different types of personality they have. They believe that the brand of other players is much more powerful because Messi could miss more "shows" outside the field, that is, not be so normal, as if it were one more. What if they have realized all of them is that it is reactivating its brand in social networks since lately it goes up much more content but without messages the majority of them, reason why lack more personality to the content. He is remembered for charitable actions as well as volunteering with Unicef, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu and celebrations in goals to help in the cause. They relate it to few brands, only with Adidas, Armani, Lays, Pepsi, Gucci and above all Barça. All of them follow him in the main social networks of Leo Messi.

IVAN RAKITIC: Rakitic is described as a very humble person, worker, family and can be a reference on a personal level for many people. They consider him a very normal person, without

56 eccentricities and who simply dedicates himself to playing football with which he is very integrated in the teams he has been with and with his teammates. They relate it with different sports brands such as Nike, Adidas, especially with the "Predator" shoes, since it was a lot of advertising and was an important image of Adidas. It is also related to Croatian football, especially with its national team where it is a benchmark and has made great games as in the world past of 2018 in Russia. Two of the focus group participants follow Ivan Rakitic on their social networks.

NEYMAR JR: He is considered a crack first of all, but is considered a Brazilian soccer player who likes a lot the party, fame, have money, etc ... They say it is a mix between Ronaldinho and Dani Alves. They also criticize that he takes trips to Brazil to go to parties with his friends, since he gives an image of wanting to go to all parties, that he is not 100% focused on football and that he lets himself be influenced by others like his friends. the "Tois" or his father. He has an attitude in many cases as a child still. With the relate different brands such as Nike Jordan with which he made a collaboration to merge their two brands (Jordan and Neymar), also relate to FC Barcelona, PSG or Brazil. Only one of them follows it and the rest does not. In the past one of them if I followed him but after his move to FC Barcelona I stop following him.

ANDER HERRERA: They describe him as a humble, hardworking person and compare him to Ivan Rakitic, since they believe they have a very similar profile. Although they believe that on a personal level he is a very flat person, he does not have great personal upsets, so in short, he is similar to Rakitic in the behavior inside the field but on a personal level he passes more disappeared. Ander Herrera is related to Adidas which is the personal brand that sponsors him, with Athletic Club, which is the club that formed him and with which he debuted in the first professional league before being signed by Manchester United, which is the other institution with the one that is related to him. They have not seen it in any trademark announcement, but they believe that it is the same in the Premier League if it appears in more ads or is related to more brands. None of them follows Ander Herrera in any of his social networks.

GARBIÑE MUGURUZA: First of all, none of the focus group participants identified Garbiñe Muguruza at a glance. Recognize that last year exploded a lot as a brand, because it had a worldwide success winning top-level tournaments. But they consider her to be the Spanish reference in women's tennis, which gives her a great advantage at an advertising level, but they believe that she is a person who does not startle on a personal level in any aspect, either positive or negative. It can be used by brands as it’s one of the most famous persons of the female sport in Spain right now. Garbiñe Muguruza is related to Adidas and tennis racket brands such as Babolat or Wilson, but they are not sure which of these brands is the one that sponsors Garbiñe. In social networks none of them follows in any of the social networks.

MIREIA BELMONTE: They describe Mireia Belmonte as a beast. They believe that swimming is a very hard sport and with a lot of sacrifice, perseverance, discipline and she exceeded it. They also remember moments such as holding different competitions in the same tournament with a few days of margin between one competition and another. The sacrifice and the fight are its main virtues since the training and everything it does to obtain the maximum performance is highly valued among them. Mireia Belmonte, is related to different brands she has promoted such as makeup, shampoos, watches and other brands. They relate it a lot with Sabadell, which is the club where they train and with the city as well as the "Marca España" for participation in international competitions. Also, with Mundo Deportivo since it has been awarded prizes by this newspaper on more than one occasion. None of them follows Mireia Belmonte in social networks.

ONA CARBONELL: They think that she is an athlete similar to the Mieria Belmonte, with different characters but both are very prepared athletes who have been practicing their sport for a long time. Ona Carbonell participated in one of the golden seasons of synchronized swimming and was led by Gemma Mengual, which has made her a good leader today thanks to what she learned from Gemma. Ona Carbonell is related above all to Freixenet and the announcement of the end of the year that is already a tradition that is one of the first or last announcements of the year and in which she has been the protagonist. They are also recognized as one of the leaders of the "Marca España". They also relate with some brands of watches like Omega and Nike. No one of them follow her in social networks.

FERNANDO ALONSO: They believe that he is a person who is a bit of an outsider, but not on a large scale. They believe that winning the two consecutive world championships could have affected their character because they were very young. They think that some gestures have played against him or not, it depends on how each one interprets it, as for example, when he sat down after breaking the engine in the Grand Prix of Brazil. But they believe that he is a person who knows how to renew, as he is doing participating in other competitions which shows that he has a lot of confidence in himself. They do not believe that they know how to work as a team and therefore do not believe that they are a good leader. It is one of the athletes who can be associated with more brands since any F1 car, carries a large number of sponsors. But the brands for which it is most recognized is Renault, Ferrari, Richard Mille. It is also related to Asturias and Spain. None of them follow him on social networks.

RAFAEL NADAL: They define it as a beast. There are no bad words for him since he is found a perfect athlete. They believe that he has had to fight a lot with his injuries and also that his character is a fighter as he fights each one of the points of the match. They think that I revolutionize tennis a little since with their physique they changed the sport a bit. They define it in two words as the sacrifice and naturalness with which it always appears. The ticks he has are also very characteristic. They compare it to Roger Federer who they think has learned a lot. His beneficent works also stand out as he did when there were floods next to his hometown and where he lives. They relate it to Nike and its logo that it has created with the Nike logo that looks like a bull. He is also related to Babolat and Richard Mille, with whom he plays the games. They believe that the brand that they have created with their logo and Nike is one of the best brands and could be closer to that of Jordan because they believe that it is one of the strongest brands. One of them follows him on social networks like Instagram.

PAU GASOL: They believe that it is a reference worldwide and the highest representative of Spanish basketball. He is described as the leader of the best generation of Spanish basketball. It has been known to adapt to all situations that have been found, has fought against the difficulties that have been found and believe that if there is a person to associate with Spanish basketball, this is Pau Gasol. Although they do not believe that he has an attitude of absolute leader, but with his gestures the other members of the team follow him. They believe that he is a very natural and very smart person and that if he were not in the basketball they would see him triumphing in other places like the medicine that started studying before leaving him.

They emphasize their social works with aid to Unicef or their aid in Hospitals with children. They believe that it is a person who lives very much what the possible problems of the people are. They relate it above all to the LA Lakers, the NBA, Memphis, ACB and the team that formed it, FC Barcelona. They do not relate it to any commercial brand. One of the participants follows him a lot in his social networks.

MARC MARQUEZ: The first sentence with which Marc Marquez is related is that of this is a person from here, from home. They believe that he is an authentic person, that his image towards the outside does not matter to him, his image and how he is before the media is as it is in reality. They do not believe that he has a second personality. They say that what they see in it is that they enjoy doing what they do and that is the key to their success. They think that he is a very competitive person and that he has been disruptive since he has completely changed MotoGP since he arrived, and they believe that the sport has improved. They believe that he has a personable, humble image and that fame has not affected him. They believe that their personality has made them a winner and with conflicts that they have found they have not wanted to have problems and has resolved them in the best and most natural way possible. They relate it to Red Bull a lot, with Repsol, Honda and Cervera, which is their hometown. None of them follow him on social networks.

Appendix E Fifth Focus Groups: Date of the Focus Group: 28/03/2019 Participants: Maria Garces, Marta Torras, Carla Ferrero, Irene Luna and Marina Cortés.

CRISTIANO RONALDO: They emphasize in a first moment that he is a great soccer player and above all an athlete. He is a footballer with a long trajectory of which they emphasize the epoch that played in Real Madrid. They think that he has a somewhat arrogant personality for attitudes that they have been able to see in matches but they believe at the same time that he is a familiar person. They also relate CR7 with the NGO Unicef. Cristiano Ronaldo is related to a large number of brands and companies such as: Adidas, Calvin Klein, Real Madrid and Portugal None of them follow Cristiano Ronaldo in any of his social networks, although they do highlight the great repercussion he has with his accounts in different social networks, especially Instagram.

LEO MESSI: All of them agree that he is one of the best players in the world first of all. They think he's a very good person, and also very familiar by actions he's done on the pitch. They think he's a good team-mate too, humble and has always been in the same club.

Messi is also related to actions with Unicef and the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, actions with which they believe he was not looking for fame if not that it was a selfless action. Messi is related to different brands, first of all Barça, also Nike, Adidas and Argentina. All but two of them follow Leo Messi in the social networks in Instagram in particular. IVAN RAKITIC: Ivan Rakitic believe that is a very stable person, a very team person who is very good companion for actions of game that have been able to see and that has integrated very well to the Spanish culture (the last two clubs in which he has played are Spanish). They believe that he is a good athlete and that he makes an effort to help the team. They don't link Ivan to any charity or any NGO. Rakitic is related to Barça, but also to Sevilla, Nike and Adidas.

One of them follows Ivan Rakitic in social networks, where he emphasizes that he is constantly active in social networks. NEYMAR JR: About Neymar Jr, the first impression is that he is a very good football player. About him they think he's a person who loves to party and doesn't care about other people's opinion. They also emphasize the not very positive weight that his family has on him and the departure of FC Barcelona. They relate him to some foundation, but none of them remembers which one of the NGOs he collaborates with Neymar is related to FC Barcelona, PSG, Nike and Brazil. None of them follow him in social networks. ANDER HERRERA: They don't have a clear idea who he is. They know that he is a Spanish player who has ever played with the Spanish national football team. They emphasize of his physique that seems still very young and good person. He is not related to any NGO or charitable cause. It is related to the Spanish National Team and Adidas (the brand that sponsors the Spanish National Team). None of them follow you on any of the social networks.

GARBIÑE MUGURUZA: Garbiñe Muguruza is known by all of them, as one of the reference tennis players at this time especially at Spanish level. They believe that is a reference for the sacrifice and humility with which he works and highlight the trophies he has achieved during his career so far as Wimbledon where they believe that his career took a big step forward. They don't link Garbiñe to an NGO or charity. Garbiñe is related to Spain, Wimbledon, Adidas and also Barcelona. One of them follows her on social networks.

MIREIA BELMONTE: About Mireia, they think she's an athlete who puts a lot of effort into what she does. They believe that swimming is one of the most sacrificed sports, and it represents a lot with

62 values such as effort, work, etc... They think that she is a very polite and correct girl in front of the public, because of the appearances she has made on television. They don't link Mireia to any cause of solidarity. Mireia Belmonte is related to the Olympic Games, the Spanish national team and the Sabadell CN. She is also related to a brand of hair soap. None of them follow Mireia in any of her social networks. ONA CARBONELL: Ona Carbonell is defined as a very classy girl. They think she plays a very nice and very sacrificial sport. They define her as a very hard-working girl and where they highlight her work with the design of the swimsuits she uses in competitions due to her fashion studies. Ona is not related to any NGO. Ona Carbonell is related to Spain and the Olympic games. In addition to collaborations with food brands, although they do not remember which one specifically, due to its passage through the television program Masterchef. One of them follows her on social networks, where she comments that she is very active. FERNANDO ALONSO: They don't have a very clear opinion about Fernando Alonso. They recognize Fernando at first sight and know that he is a Formula One world champion but recognize that they are not fans of Formula One and do not follow it and therefore can not give a clear opinion. Fernando is not related to any charity or NGO. Alonso is related to Formula One and above all to Ferrari and Renault. None of them follow Fernando Alonso in any of his social networks. RAFA NADAL: Rafa Nadal consider him as one of the best athletes in history. They believe that he is a very humble person, very hard-working and has managed his career very well. They define him as a winner and a fighter. They relate to the action he did in his hometown, which suffered flooding last year Rafa Nadal is related to different brands such as Nike and Babolat but also with different tournaments such as Roland Garros or the Conde de Godó tournament in Barcelona. It is also related to the brand Spain. Two of them follow Rafa Nadal in one of his social networks. PAU GASOL: They recognize at first sight that Pau Gasol as one of the most historic basketball players of Spanish basketball. Although they don't know the exact team he plays for, they know

63 he's still playing in the NBA. They emphasize the vocation he has always had for the sport and also one of them remembers that he began studying medicine. Pau is not related to any NGO or social work. They relate Pau Gasol with the NBA, FC Barcelona, Nike and the Spanish national team. None of them follow Pau Gasol in any of their social networks. MARC MARQUEZ: Marc Marquez believes that he is a person who never gives up, who always wants to win. They think he's a very nice person because he's always smiling, he's handsome and he hasn't changed his lifestyle even though he's now the best motorcycle rider according to them. They don't relate Marc to any charity or any NGO. They relate Marc Marquez above all to MotoGP and Repsol. He is also related to the clothing brand Pull & Bear. Only one of them follows Marc Marquez in one of his social networks.

Appendix F Interview to Xavi Lucas: 26/08/2017

V: How many athletes go through school and football academy every year? X: Here in Europa CF they must spend about 780-800 of non-federated school that they train at Nou Sardenya during the week and play Saturdays also in Nou Sardenya, I mean they not play outside. And about 300-320 at the football academy (federated), here you have to add the girls, the second and the first team. Speaking in clear numbers, around 1350 athletes every year, and if we take first female team, second and first team we are talking about 1280 children between the ages of 4 and 18. V: Of all those athletes who have gone through school and base football, how many of them have come to professional football? X: Do we understand professional soccer as the one is making money for playing or first division? V: Yes, I understand professional football as the one charged for playing, and I would be grateful if you could tell me any of the athletes that have gone through Europa CF has became footballer of the first division? X: What you charge to play we are talking about a minority, we can be talking about 2%, about 12 children in 12 years, is very little. And that achieve the first level, players from Europa CF to Espanyol, to Damm, to Barça, also to Real Madrid Madrid but later these players did not reach the first teams. They should be around for second, second “B” or third teams, but they have not been in the first teams of these big clubs. V: When do you take a boy to play in Europa CF, what do you consider, apart from quality? X: This depends on the responsible, I mean, the manager of Barça's base football follow for a very 4-3-3 system that must be respected by the Cruyff era, etc. ... I am sure that each one of the responsible ones who has had the base football of Barça have had their attractions, I mean, I like blonde women, another person likes brunette women, because I like these, because while I've been here, it is clear that there must be one Physical and technical component, but for me it is also important and you were an example of it: behavior, attitude, values, what you transmitted, how do you interact with your mates, that is, during all these years? Here I have avoided players in soccer base that they were "jets", and maybe they were virtuous, or more talented than they had in school but if what they conveyed, their education, we see that we can not change it myself I've gone to base football. What will happen? Next year I will not be the coordinator of the football academy, and maybe the new person in charge of the academy and the school prefer “brunette”, do I explain? Well that happens in all things in life. And here in Europa CF we wanted talented, physical but also have a respectful, kind, competitive, but at the same time

65 respectful with the opponent and be a fighter since we always want people to compete, and to promote it to a team superior are followed by the same standards. V: To sign up for a new player, how do you do it? X: Since now, we have not hire players from outside, everything has became from our school. This last year, we started to sign players from others clubs. What are you looking for? Let it be improved, or give you a physical, technical and attitude that does not give our school. Our school, you will remember it, is a very comfortable school, everything is very polite. Sometimes with the soccer teams when we go to compete out we need a player somewhat more "thug", and now there is a trend that you want to sign in, and people from a world more than "street." More livelier, more amazed in the field. V: What psychological features, values at the time of signing a new child? X: It's basically what I'm talking about. At a psychological level a child can not be demanded as an adult. If I were the coordinator or the head of a first team, I would first have to have a conversation with him. And according to the conversation, he would file it or not, unless it was very good. Because I feel that there are some features that, later or later, the sportsman takes off. Because he who is selfish outside the field also or is within the field, what is a bad educated here will also be in the field, and that is forever. V: To what extent can the academic training that an athlete may have, can it affect inside the field? X: Within the field it affects everything, if at home you have problems and for example the parents are separated that, the state of nerves, the state of anxiety is seen in the field. At the academic level, I feel that a child must be in training at least until age 18. That is, I would oblige all clubs in the world to take a degree or a bachillerato. But if you have to be with the active mind until age 18, then you will decide if you want to go to work or want to continue studying. Although they continue playing soccer at a high level, at least until 18 years old they have to do something. V: Do you recommend children to have professional representation agents for young athletes? X: I feel that the representatives are appropriate with some categories. In other words, in a category of "A" or Youthful Cadet you are in two or three years of professional football. I feel that they are the ones who understand laws, those who understand contracts, now until I reach this age I find it absurd, because we are representing players that are children, when perhaps within 3 years this player no longer plays football. But the tendency is that more and more younger children have representatives. V: Well, that's it, thank you very much.

Appendix G Interview to Francesc Valdivieso: 24/04/2019

V: At what age do you recommend being represented by a professional agent? F: I would recommend, and more, to regulate it because it was from the years. I say this because from the years when a person can sign a work contract. And this is because at times like these athletes and his or her family must be well-advised especially in legal matters by a lawyer. What is crazy is what is happening today, when representatives begin with children 12 or 13 years since it creates an expectation that deceives athletes and relatives, because nobody can ensure that a boy or girl with these ages can reach to be a professional soccer player in the future. V: When do I start to create a footballer's brand / image? F: In soccer, brand-name in the world there are only 5 marks of highly recognized athletes, after this group of people, we find a much larger group that has a "name", and then all those professionals that are in it same place. In each of the sports we can find few athletes who have recognized brands, which happens is that everyone wants to try to imitate the sportsmen with brands that have triumphed and also families. V: Players when trying to sell their image and brand, want to emphasize that they can benefit more from the public, be it their personal image, the history they have had in their lives to become a professional athlete, etc ... Do you follow any type of strategy to develop the image and brand of the athletes? F: No, in my case, I have represented players who nowadays have a "name" important, such as Sergio Busquets, who has made himself alone, since he himself is, the market is already positioned by himself. Then there are other factors such as advertising services that enhance the brand as they have done with Messi or Cristiano today. But I am referring to the question that personal branding we can do is done as professionals who are in their sport. Therefore, what we do from the representation agency is to give a legal service or afterwards give advice with labor, fiscal and image department issues, so that the image of at least one athlete does not deteriorate. Since, for example, a juvenile player, we can not do more than a player advances and we can not do more than the same sportsman is doing. What we do is give advice for the training of the player, but it is a job also shared with the family and the places where they learn to train. With Munnir el Haddadi (Sevilla FC), what we do is stick to our social life because it focuses exclusively on football. V: But for example, if we find cases like Xavi Simons (FC Barcelona player with only 15 years) that already has his brand created with a logo, etc ... how is it possible then?

F: In this case, other elements such as social networks intervene. Until a few years ago they did not exist and now thanks to this, Xavi Simons knows everyone. And the question is, what did this child do? And there are brands such as Nike or Adidas since these brands have always had other players such as Sergi Roberto and have not had this "Boom" from young people. That's why I do not know what it has been that has made this child look so much, but the moments are also different if we compare it with the case of Sergi Roberto. I would like to know why a 15-year-old boy can have more than one million followers on Instagram. X: I believe that in this case, they have also intervened in this particular case. There is the brand that sponsors it, there is the representative, but there is another factor that is the club, which promotes a certain type of players. Since in the social networks of the clubs the same players always come out, with the same comments, as is the case with Riqui Puig (FC Barcelona player). F: The cases of Riqui Puig or Xavi Simons are phenomena that come out of football. The case of Riqui Puig has been greatly enhanced by the club, and we'll see how Xavi Simos's case ends, but it seems to end in the same way. The other question we can ask is how far these players arrived, but what is clear is that while young people are still known to them. And nobody has made a personal branding for Riqui Puig beyond the same club, because Riqui Puig for example does not represent you, since it is his father. That is why the one who founded the Riqui Puig brand is FC Barcelona. V: So, who promotes the brand of a young sportsman is the club? F: Yes, not in all cases but in the majority they are promoted by the club, since they are interested in promoting these players. To try to promote them in the market. There are several exemples in the history of FC Barcelona: Bojan Krkic, Gai Assulin, Gerard Deulofeu, and now it’s turn of Riqui Puig and in some years of Xavi Simons. And interestingly, players like Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta who have not come as branded by the club and who have made history in world football have not been recognized by UEFA and FIFA as the best players. What you have to try is with the branding is not doing anything strange. They have to align many things to be successful in soccer. V: And the part of the social networks? F: Nowadays, people live on social networks, even though it is thinking that it is nobody if it is not part of it. V: And the case of Sergio Busquets, why is it decided to create profiles of social networks at this time? F: In the case of Sergio Busquets, at this moment they have thought it necessary to create, as it is a communication channel, that a good employee can open borders. And if Sergio Busquets in one year wants to make Xavi and Iniesta go to other clubs in Asia, the East or other places, the only way to keep in touch and profit is with social networks, which is the only way to do it. V: And in the case of players who professionally represent who carries their social networks?

F: The case of players with more followers in social networks was brought by the agencies representing the athlete, but there are always exceptions where athletes are those who prefer to bring their own social networks. But we do this with players with millions of followers in our case. We do this with the sole objective of showing proper behavior in front of the public. But in the case of Munnir who is the athlete who has more followers of our agency representation, and we have not received large offers to advertise products. We can find cases such as Tello (Real Betis) that advertise a brand of beer for € 2,000. But because of these prices we do not work because what a footballer generates a year is much higher. That's why we recommend that you don't teach your life, because what you teach doesn't like the fans and it's a risk you'd rather not have. Because you have to be very careful, because there are footballers who are not trained to teach their lives. The footballers where they make money is with the sports brands that sponsor the players.

V: What strategy do you follow to choose the personal sponsorship brand of an athlete? Are you trying to make it the same as the club the player is currently playing for? F: No, we can choose the brand we want. If it matches the brand that carries the perfect club, but the player can change club during that period. V: But there are cases in which there is Brand confusion with certain players as I have seen in different focus groups. How can this be explained?

F: Most of the people in the world of football know what brand the great players wear. The problem in these cases is not the footballers, but the clubs. Because having a great player in your team that is sponsored by the same brand as the club, the club could get much more performance and earn more money. And from the point of view of signing contracts to have a top player who is also sponsored by the same brand as the club, could have many greater benefits both the club and the player, as they could exploit much more their image.

V: Do you think an athlete should follow some corporate social responsibility standards? F: No, as long as a player is not related to something that is not healthy, that is not related to sport does not affect. But for example, there are cases like beer, which has broken with the standards established so far, but there are few cases where we can find a similar sponsorship. And when an athlete is in solidarity with an NGO, they do so without any kind of profit motive. In the end, football is a big lie, and people are moved by emotions and what can be a big problem today, can be forgotten the following days.

V: And finally, when a professional footballer has retired, what strategy do you follow?

F: It depends on the athlete, on all athletes, there are few who accompany them a name so that later they can be placed somewhere. We can say name like Carles Puyol, Julio Salinas, etc... But in the end we would always arrive to that they are sportsmen who come to clubs like the FC Barcelona and the Real Madrid. But those who finish football in clubs that are not great teams, where are they? As they don't have a good preparation, formation and a good administration of their finances, what will they do? Because the professional life of the sportsman is short, in relation to any other life, and the footballers during their professional stage are accustomed to live in a world that is not real. And the luck that have had some top players of the best clubs, is not the same for all, and if you do not have training and talent to devote yourself to something else accompanied by a good management of your finances, it can become a disaster. That's why it's important to have an academic background, and there's always a barrier where you have to stop studying. That's why I recommend that if you're 23-25 years old and haven't passed the second "b" division, you have to rethink what to do with your life, and it's very hard to hear this at that age, but you won't be a professional footballer. Because all professional footballers have reached second "b" before the age of 25, and if you have to be a top player, you have to be before the age of 23. That's why the later life of players who are professionals but haven't become top players and don't work after their professional football life, their standard of living drops a lot. That is why the function of the agent is to guide in moments before the withdrawal of the footballer, with his last contract. Also in this point the family influences a lot, since there have been cases of great players that their family has ruined them and other cases in which they have been able to save the future life of the sportsman. That is why families can play two roles: give support to the athlete and advise him or try to live the life of the athlete as well, and this is where the danger is. That's why the family plays a vital role, and that can also help to get the athlete's profession in many cases, where luck also accompanies. V: Perfect! Well, that's it. Thank you very much.