PhD, Associate Professor R.V. Bekurov¹
PhD Lai Lingzhi¹
PhD, Associate Professor L.P. Maryina^1
1Saint Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg

Objective of the study was to revealing the functionality of the club media of the leading Russian and European football clubs.
Methods and structure of the study. In the course of work on the article, the structures of the club media of the leading European teams (Russian "Zenith", English "Liverpool" and Spanish "Barcelona"), as well as teams playing in the third most important leagues (Russian "Alania Vladikavkaz", English "Wimbledon" and Spanish "Recreativo").
Results and conclusions. In the course of the analysis, the authors determined that new media play a decisive role in the mediatization of football. This is largely due to the fact that the audience goes online, and new technologies make it possible to package and distribute content mobile and in convenient formats. Funding does not always ensure the effectiveness of media assets. The media product of football clubs is quite variable. It is based on everything related to the club: traditions, history, positioning. Football clubs "shape their audience by functioning like classic media companies".
The authors conclude that it is necessary to intensify the further development of club media with an emphasis on the specifics of the internal audience and taking into account those media strategies that are successfully implemented in the practice of European clubs.

Keywords: club media, sports media communications, media, football brands, information technology, advertising, media sports, sports organizations, journalism.

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