George Yiapanas
George Yiapanas is the Finance Manager of GSP Stadium in Nicosia, CY, with more than twenty years of experience in the sports industry. He is also the founder and owner of GKY Sports Management.
He holds a PhD in Sports Management from the University of Nicosia, CY, an MA degree (with distinction) in Management from the University of Wolverhampton, UK, a degree in Accounting from the BPP University, UK, a Certificate in Football Management and in Security Management. He is further a qualified stadium safety manager and a certified trainer for stadium stewards by the UEFA stadium and Security Unit.
He has wide professional and social contribution to sports. Due to his expertise in the field, he was invited in 2019 -until 2021- to become a member of the Parallel Parliament of Cyprus -direct appointment by the President of the House of Representatives-. He is a board member of the Cyprus Association for Sports Management (CyASM), and a member of the EuroMed Research Business Institute (SMEMAB/EMRBI).
He is currently appointed by the University of Nicosia, CY as an Adjunct Faculty, and by the University of Roehampton, UK as a lecturer, in the fields of strategic planning and sustainable strategic management
His primary research interests lie in the areas of sports strategic management, sports governance, sports consumer behaviour, marketing and sponsorship and sports safety management. His professional activities and expertise in the field allow him to take part in various projects and discussion panels. He has published a number of papers on football strategic management, and attended numerous local and international conferences, where he had the chance to present papers on sports management and sports grounds safety management.
Address: Nicosia - Cyprus
He holds a PhD in Sports Management from the University of Nicosia, CY, an MA degree (with distinction) in Management from the University of Wolverhampton, UK, a degree in Accounting from the BPP University, UK, a Certificate in Football Management and in Security Management. He is further a qualified stadium safety manager and a certified trainer for stadium stewards by the UEFA stadium and Security Unit.
He has wide professional and social contribution to sports. Due to his expertise in the field, he was invited in 2019 -until 2021- to become a member of the Parallel Parliament of Cyprus -direct appointment by the President of the House of Representatives-. He is a board member of the Cyprus Association for Sports Management (CyASM), and a member of the EuroMed Research Business Institute (SMEMAB/EMRBI).
He is currently appointed by the University of Nicosia, CY as an Adjunct Faculty, and by the University of Roehampton, UK as a lecturer, in the fields of strategic planning and sustainable strategic management
His primary research interests lie in the areas of sports strategic management, sports governance, sports consumer behaviour, marketing and sponsorship and sports safety management. His professional activities and expertise in the field allow him to take part in various projects and discussion panels. He has published a number of papers on football strategic management, and attended numerous local and international conferences, where he had the chance to present papers on sports management and sports grounds safety management.
Address: Nicosia - Cyprus
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Papers by George Yiapanas
Book chapters by George Yiapanas
Conference Proceedings by George Yiapanas
The findings show that the Cyprus authorities managed through a series of key actions to develop a national integrated approach framework, implementing a three-pillar concept on safety management, in an effort to respond positively against football hooliganism. Therefore, the paper provides a valuable theoretical framework that can be adopted by Safety Managers.
An effective safety management is relying on an ongoing risk assessment and Managers must continuously supervise, control and practice all forces and technology systems, separately and together, in order to build an integrated operational readiness and successfully organise such multi-complex events, preserving at the same time, the balance between the three safety management elements. A safe environment creates value and the success of the football business relies on how well fans are treated and how comfortable and safe they feel at the venue.
Additionally, the findings of this research create the urge for empirical research to test the degree of application of the strategic framework and identify the volume and correlation between the created value and football as a business.
Books by George Yiapanas
Thesis by George Yiapanas
Despite its afore-described importance, existing theory remains in its infancy and new in terms of explicit knowledge and degree of interaction. Extant studies on the topic are only partial and incomplete; or tend to over-focus on individual stakeholder-value relationships; or perceive stakeholders as broad categories overlooking the fact that various sub-categories exist as diverse entities; or analyse the industry’s actors and values individually and not as a system. This research contributes to the field of sports strategic management and bridges the gap in knowledge through its aim, to comprehensively identify the football industry stakeholders and their relative value in the individual club perspective, and to conceptualise and test their interrelationship in the Cyprus context towards the development of a corresponding framework of club benefits. This study addressed the stakeholder theory on a wide range of individuals and groups, enhancing the theory itself, in a context that until now was lacking empirical validation, and developed for the first time a unified club-specific framework of benefits.
Methodologically, considering the complex contextual circumstances, the study developed and applied a customised multi-level approach to collect and verify qualitative data. The research deployed every significant relevant study in the field to develop an initial theoretical generic framework, which was first validated by an Experts Panel and subsequently tested in the Cyprus-specific context. The empirical stage applied the qualitative approach, gathering data through forty-one semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with individuals within the top nine football clubs, as well as with key industry stakeholders who de facto represent specific groups, in order to validate the findings.
The research findings contribute significantly to knowledge, presenting scholars and practitioners with a systemic and comprehensive understanding and prescription of the individual club stakeholder management relationships and synergies. In this vein, the development of the final framework acts as a map, a blueprint for both theory and practice, bridging the gap in the literature, offering new avenues for further research, and arming executives with practicable valid knowledge. The research’s content, context and methodology generate a holistic set of contributions to scholarly business knowledge, and the gained insights and recommendations act as catalysts to individual football clubs’ strategic redevelopment and repositioning against their internal and external stakeholders
The findings show that the Cyprus authorities managed through a series of key actions to develop a national integrated approach framework, implementing a three-pillar concept on safety management, in an effort to respond positively against football hooliganism. Therefore, the paper provides a valuable theoretical framework that can be adopted by Safety Managers.
An effective safety management is relying on an ongoing risk assessment and Managers must continuously supervise, control and practice all forces and technology systems, separately and together, in order to build an integrated operational readiness and successfully organise such multi-complex events, preserving at the same time, the balance between the three safety management elements. A safe environment creates value and the success of the football business relies on how well fans are treated and how comfortable and safe they feel at the venue.
Additionally, the findings of this research create the urge for empirical research to test the degree of application of the strategic framework and identify the volume and correlation between the created value and football as a business.
Despite its afore-described importance, existing theory remains in its infancy and new in terms of explicit knowledge and degree of interaction. Extant studies on the topic are only partial and incomplete; or tend to over-focus on individual stakeholder-value relationships; or perceive stakeholders as broad categories overlooking the fact that various sub-categories exist as diverse entities; or analyse the industry’s actors and values individually and not as a system. This research contributes to the field of sports strategic management and bridges the gap in knowledge through its aim, to comprehensively identify the football industry stakeholders and their relative value in the individual club perspective, and to conceptualise and test their interrelationship in the Cyprus context towards the development of a corresponding framework of club benefits. This study addressed the stakeholder theory on a wide range of individuals and groups, enhancing the theory itself, in a context that until now was lacking empirical validation, and developed for the first time a unified club-specific framework of benefits.
Methodologically, considering the complex contextual circumstances, the study developed and applied a customised multi-level approach to collect and verify qualitative data. The research deployed every significant relevant study in the field to develop an initial theoretical generic framework, which was first validated by an Experts Panel and subsequently tested in the Cyprus-specific context. The empirical stage applied the qualitative approach, gathering data through forty-one semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with individuals within the top nine football clubs, as well as with key industry stakeholders who de facto represent specific groups, in order to validate the findings.
The research findings contribute significantly to knowledge, presenting scholars and practitioners with a systemic and comprehensive understanding and prescription of the individual club stakeholder management relationships and synergies. In this vein, the development of the final framework acts as a map, a blueprint for both theory and practice, bridging the gap in the literature, offering new avenues for further research, and arming executives with practicable valid knowledge. The research’s content, context and methodology generate a holistic set of contributions to scholarly business knowledge, and the gained insights and recommendations act as catalysts to individual football clubs’ strategic redevelopment and repositioning against their internal and external stakeholders