| Albania, the oldest country in the Balkan Peninsula, over the past twenty-four years has been under a Communist regime. During that period, Albanian cultural activities were completely centralized and controlled by the state. When the regime collapsed, Albanian cultural life won its independence and a lot of changes occurred. One area in which the change has taken place is sport management. Based on the theory U, this shift from the old social structure and way of thinking requires individuals to create, change, or shape their futures. Logically, to understand the change in sport management, the role of managers needs to be studied. The sports club managers have to deal with the changes and possess the resources and capabilities to successfully manage their sports clubs. The purpose of this study was to produce a sports club management model that includes a list of necessary competencies that typically apply to the successful management of sports clubs in Albania. The Delphi method was used to determine the perceptions of 13 sports club managers who represent members of the stakeholders in Albania: university sports management faculty members, government representatives, and sports club managers. The panel reached a consensus over a three-iteration electronic sequels in which they freely refined and adjusted their responses. The result was a management competency model of the 11 most important competencies: leadership, communication skills, personnel management, sports knowledge, legislation knowledge, achieving objectives, marketing, problem solving, public relationship, financing, and facilities management. The management competency model revealed in this study is a solid base for sports club managers in Albania and potential course content for developing sport management curricula. |
