FC Schaffhausen, a Swiss club with a rich history, is currently undergoing an organizational transformation fueled by new investment and heightened ambitions. In light of their search for a new CEO, I have outlined my strategic vision for how leadership could navigate these challenges and capitalize on this new chapter.

1. Situational Analysis: FC Schaffhausen in Context

FC Schaffhausen is one of Switzerland’s oldest football clubs, founded in 1896, with historical roots and strong regional identity (FC Schaffhausen, 2026a). However, despite its legacy, the club currently (i.e., season 2025/26) competes outside the top two professional tiers of Swiss football in the Hoval Promotion League, the third and semi-professional tier in the Swiss football system. This presents structural, financial, and reputational constraints to the club (Fetchko et al., 2018). Clubs operating below the top tiers face limited media exposure, reduced commercial attractiveness, and heightened financial vulnerability (Karg et al., 2022).

Since 2025, FC Schaffhausen has been under new foreign ownership, marking a decisive break with its recent past and signalling ambitions to reposition the club within the professional football landscape (Blick, 2025). Such ownership transitions can represent both opportunity and risk: while new capital and international perspectives can accelerate transformation, factors like governance instability, cultural misalignment, and unrealistic growth expectations may undermine performance if not carefully managed (Hoye et al., 2018).

Thus, the club finds itself in a phase of organisational redefinition, in which attention should be given to balancing tradition and legitimacy with the need for modern governance, financial discipline, and strategic clarity. In this context, the role of the CEO becomes central as a stabilising, coordinating, and future-oriented executive leader.

2. Key Challenges, Expectations, and Guiding CEO Objectives

The FC Schaffhausen CEO job description signals that the board is seeking a leader capable of integrating strategic leadership, financial management, commercial growth, stakeholder engagement, and organisational development (FC Schaffhausen, 2026b). These expectations align with the club’s current challenges, which can be grouped into six interrelated domains:

1. Strategic ambiguity, following ownership change
2. Financial fragility, typical of lower-tier football environments
3. Underutilised commercial and brand potential
4. Tension between sporting ambition and economic reality
5. Erosion or fragmentation of stakeholder trust
6. Need for professionalised internal structures

Based on these challenges and the club’s stated expectations, the guiding objectives for the CEO should be:

• to stabilise and professionalise the organisation (see Downling et al., 2014),
• to restore credibility and trust among stakeholders (see Fetchko et al., 2018; Wann & James, 2018), and
• to build scalable foundations for sustainable sporting and economic growth (see Karg et al., 2022).

3. Strategy and Tactics Aligned with the CEO’s Core Responsibilities

3.1 Strategic Leadership and Governance

Strategic leadership in a transitional club context requires clarity of purpose, governance discipline, and realistic time horizons; the CEO should act as the primary interface between ownership, board, and operations, ensuring role clarity and decision transparency (Glebova, 2024). Academic research highlights that governance stability and clear accountability structures are decisive success factors in football organisations undergoing change (e.g., Adam & Bachmaier, 2024; Adams et al., 2025; Torres-Pruñonosa et al., 2025). Practically, this implies formalised reporting routines, scenario planning, and explicit separation between strategic oversight and operational execution (Hoye et al., 2018).

3.2 Financial Management

Financial sustainability is the non-negotiable foundation of any credible turnaround strategy; clubs outside the top tiers face structurally constrained revenues and disproportionate cost pressures (Martín-Magdalena et al., 2023; Öner et al., 2024). The CEO should prioritise liquidity management, cost discipline, and multi-year financial planning over short-term sporting gambles (Evans, 2024). Evidence from European football consistently shows that clubs prioritising financial controls outperform peers in long-term survival, even when sporting performance fluctuates (e.g., Alaminos & Fernández, 2019; Jacobsen, 2023; Öner et al., 2024).

3.3 Commercial and Brand Development

FC Schaffhausen’s brand equity is rooted in history, regional identity, and authenticity, assets that may be undervalued in lower-tier football. The CEO should reposition the club not as a diminished former top-tier team, but as a credible, community-embedded professional organisation (Bridgewater, 2010; Wann & James, 2018). Authenticity and local embeddedness are key drivers of sponsor alignment and fan loyalty, particularly in smaller markets (Bühler & Nufer, 2019; Karg et al., 2022). Tactically, this involves structured sponsorship portfolios, experiential matchday offerings, and consistent brand narratives (Fetchko et al., 2018).

3.4 Collaboration with Football Operations

One of the CEO’s responsibilities is balancing economic governance with sporting ambition. Studies warn against excessive executive interference in sporting decisions, while emphasising the need for financial guardrails (e.g., Alaminos & Fernández, 2019; Manzari et al., 2024). The CEO should enable the sporting leadership through clear budgetary frameworks, performance indicators, and medium-term squad planning, ensuring alignment without micromanagement (Hoye et al., 2018).

3.5 Stakeholder and Community Engagement

Trust is a strategic resource, particularly during periods of change or instability (Gladden, 2013). Fans, sponsors, public authorities, and regional partners must perceive stability, professionalism, and transparency (Karg et al., 2022). Stakeholder theory in sport emphasises that clubs function as social institutions as much as economic entities (Torres-Pruñonosa et al., 2025). The CEO should therefore actively engage key stakeholders through dialogue-based communication, visible leadership presence, and consistent messaging that balances ambition with realism (Adams et al., 2024; Yiapanas et al., 2024).

3.6 Leadership and Organisational Development

Internal culture can determine whether strategic plans succeed or fail. The CEO should foster a performance-oriented yet psychologically safe organisational environment, especially in clubs with limited resources (Hoye et al., 2018). Professionalisation of internal processes, role clarity, and leadership consistency can be decisive drivers of organisational resilience (Porter, 1985; Schein & Schein, 2016). Investment in people and processes may yield higher returns than isolated sporting expenditures (Taylor et al., 2024).

3.7 Additional Strategic Responsibility: Data-Informed Decision-Making and Organisational Learning

While not explicitly stated in the job description, a modern CEO may want to consider championing data-informed management beyond sporting analytics; this includes financial forecasting, fan behaviour analysis, sponsorship valuation, and performance benchmarking (Fried & Mumcu, 2016). By institutionalising data use, the CEO reduces risk, enhances credibility, and supports more rational decision-making across departments (Bouchet et al., 2020).

4. Measuring Success: Performance and Objective Tracking

The CEO’s performance can be evaluated using a balanced scorecard approach, combining financial, sporting, organisational, and stakeholder-related indicators (Kaplan & Norton, 1997; Plumley et al., 2017).

Key metrics may include:

• Financial: liquidity ratios, budget adherence, revenue diversification (Brown et al., 2016)
• Sporting: league stability, squad cost efficiency, player development indicators (Brown et al., 2016)
• Commercial: sponsorship retention, matchday revenues, brand activation metrics (Fetchko et al., 2018)
• Stakeholder: fan attendance trends, sponsor satisfaction, community partnerships (Karg et al., 2022)
• Organisational: staff turnover, process formalisation, governance compliance (Hoye et al., 2018)

Such a multidimensional evaluation framework reflects the complex reality of modern football leadership and aligns executive incentives with long-term sustainability rather than short-term results.

Concluding Remark

FC Schaffhausen’s future does not depend solely on promotion or investment, but on professional leadership capable of aligning ambition with structure. In periods of redefinition, the CEO’s role is less about bold promises and more about disciplined execution, credibility, and strategic patience. Academic research and industry evidence converge on one conclusion: sustainable success in football begins off the pitch.

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